Ink Master on Spike is shaking it up for the new season — which for the first time will see teams of two from different stores compete for $200,000.
The season, titled Ink Master: Shop Wars, features eight teams from across the US all battling it out for the title of “Master Shop”.
It kicks off with a flash challenge where the teams have to create a sculpture representing their store, carved out of a block of ice.
The shops taking part are: Allegory Arts of Florence, Alabama; Artistic Skin Design & Body Piercing, who have several studios in Indiana; Black Anchor Collective of Hesperia, California; Classic Trilogy Tattoos of Mattydale, New York; Pinz and Needlez Tattoo Studio of Edgewood, Maryland; The Marked Society of McDonough, Georgia; Thicker Than Blood Tattoos of White Plains, New York; Tri-Cities Tattoo Company from Atlanta, Georgia; and Unkindness Art of Richmond, Virginia.
The series is once again presented by Jane’s Addiction and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro, with tattoo legends Chris Núñez and Oliver Peck as judges.
Navarro says: “For the first time ever we’re seeing teams — two artists from each shop — battling it out for not $100,000, but $200,000, to prove who’s the better shop.”
Núñez adds: “You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and we’re exposing that right out of the gate.”
Last season of Ink Master saw Ryan Ashley Malarky take the crown.
Ink Master airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on Spike.