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Best Ink is an American reality competition series on Oxygen that judges tattoo artists. The series ran for three seasons, the first in 2012, the second in 2013, and the third in 2013–2014. The show was hosted by Kimberly Caldwell during Season 1 and by Pete Wentz in Seasons 2 and 3.[1]
| Best Ink | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Presented by |
|
| Judges |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 30 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Running time | 42 minutes |
| Production company | Bunim/Murray Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Oxygen |
| Release | March 27, 2012 – February 26, 2014 |
Best Ink premiered on March 27, 2012.[2] The second season debuted on April 3, 2013.[3][4] The third season debuted on December 4, 2013.[5]
- Hannah Aitchison – Judge
- Kimberly Caldwell – Host (season 1)
- Joe Capobianco – Judge
- Sabina Kelley – Judge
- Pete Wentz – Host (seasons 2–3)
A group of tattoo artists from around the United States compete in various tattooing challenges. The winner of the competition wins a $100,000 cash prize and a cover article in a well-known tattoo-related magazine. After each challenge, tattoo artist and the show's judges, along with a different guest judge every week, critique the tattoos to find the contestant with the "Best Ink".
Flash challenge
Typically a non-tattooing task that tests the contestants' artistic skills using different media, subjects and "canvases." Usually the skills tested in the Flash Challenge will be a compulsory judging factor in the Elimination Tattoo.
Elimination tattoo
This stage starts with the winner of the Flash Challenge getting a privilege in this second stage. These perks can be first/only choice of which "skin" (client) they would like to tattoo or extra time, but is predetermined by the show's production team. Once each "skin" is allocated to a contestant, a consultation period between artist and "skin" is given (typically in a set amount of time) and followed by chance to create the artwork overnight before tattooing the next day. The Elimination tattoos are performed simultaneously by all contestants and within a set amount of time. The judges then critique the work, choosing the best and worst tattoos of the week. The contestant that produces the worst tattoo is eliminated from the show until the final episode where one tattoo artist is judged the winner.
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Season 1
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Season 2 |
Season 3
|
Season 1
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Challenge Winner |
Charlie | Roman | Kyle | Alexis | Alexis | Charlie | London | N/A |
| London | WIN | IN | IN | LOW | LOW | LOW | WIN | WINNER |
| Alexis | IN | HIGH | IN | WIN | HIGH | HIGH | IN | RUNNER-UP |
| Jon | HIGH | IN | BTM2 | LOW | WIN | WIN | BTM2 | 3RD PLACE |
| Charlie | IN | IN | WIN | IN | BTM2 | BTM2 | OUT | |
| Nicky | IN | LOW | IN | IN | IN | OUT | ||
| Kyle | IN | BTM2 | IN | BTM2 | OUT | |||
| Jessica | LOW | LOW | LOW | OUT | ||||
| Roman | IN | WIN | OUT | |||||
| Meghan | BTM2 | OUT | ||||||
| Tiffany | OUT | |||||||
- (WINNER) The contestant won Best Ink.
- (RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the Runner-Up.
- (3RD PLACE) The contestant was in 3rd Place.
- (WIN) The contestant won best tattoo of the week.
- (HIGH) The contestant had one of the best tattoos of the week, but did not win.
- (IN) The contestant was safe.
- (LOW) The contestant had one of the best tattoos of the week, but was voted into the bottom.
- (LOW) The contestant had one of the worst tattoos of the week, but was the first to be called safe.
- (BTM2) The contestant had one of the worst tattoos of the week and was the last to be called safe.
- (OUT) The contestant was eliminated from the competition.
Season 2
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Challenge Winner |
Melvin | Jerod | DJ | Dollarz | Tylor | Jerod | Teresa | DJ | Jerod | N/A |
| Teresa | HIGH | IN | WIN | HIGH | WIN | HIGH | HIGH | IN | BTM2 | WINNER |
| DJ | WIN | IN | IN | WIN | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | HIGH | WIN | RUNNER-UP |
| Jerod | IN | HIGH | LOW | BTM2 | HIGH | LOW | IN | WIN | WIN | 3RD PLACE |
| Alli | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | IN | IN | BTM2 | BTM2 | OUT | |
| Brittany | IN | WIN | IN | IN | BTM2 | WIN | IN | OUT | ||
| Derek | HIGH | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | BTM2 | OUT | |||
| Tylor | IN | HIGH | IN | IN | IN | OUT | ||||
| Ralph | IN | IN | HIGH | IN | OUT | |||||
| Dollarz | IN | LOW | BTM2 | OUT | ||||||
| Kelly | BTM2 | BTM2 | OUT | |||||||
| Melvin | LOW | OUT | ||||||||
| Carolyn | OUT | |||||||||
Bold The contestant won immunity the previous week and was automatically safe the preceding week.
- (WINNER) The contestant won Best Ink.
- (RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up.
- (3RD PLACE) The contestant was in 3rd Place.
- (WIN) The contestant won best tattoo of the week, and received automatic immunity for the next week's Ink Challenge.
- (WIN) The contestant won best tattoo of the week, but did not receive automatic immunity for the next week's Ink Challenge.
- (HIGH) The contestant had one of the best tattoos of the week, but did not win.
- (IN) The contestant was safe.
- (LOW) The contestant had one of the worst tattoos of the week, but was the first to be called safe.
- (BTM2) The contestant had one of the worst tattoos of the week and was the last to be called safe.
- (OUT) The contestant was eliminated from the competition.
Season 3
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Challenge Winner |
Amy | May May |
Willy | Darnell | Joe | Danny | Darnell | Karly | Alayna | Karly | Darnell | N/A |
| Karly | WIN | IN | IN | HIGH | IN | IN | WIN | WIN | IN | BTM2 | WIN | WINNER |
| Darnell | HIGH | IN | IN | WIN | IN | IN | HIGH | IN | WIN | HIGH | BTM2 | RUNNER-UP |
| Alayna | IN | IN | IN | LOW | WIN | IN | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | IN | WIN | 3RD PLACE |
| Willy | IN | WIN | HIGH | IN | HIGH | HIGH | LOW | HIGH | IN | WIN | OUT | |
| Lara | LOW | IN | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | BTM2 | LOW | BTM2 | OUT | ||
| Joe | IN | HIGH | WIN | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | LOW | BTM2 | OUT | |||
| Romeo | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | BTM2 | HIGH | OUT | ||||
| Danny | IN | IN | IN | BTM2 | BTM2 | LOW | OUT | |||||
| May May | HIGH | LOW | LOW | IN | LOW | OUT | ||||||
| Anthony | IN | BTM2 | IN | IN | OUT | |||||||
| Amy | IN | HIGH | BTM2 | OUT | ||||||||
| Izzi | BTM2 | IN | OUT | |||||||||
| Rudy | IN | OUT | ||||||||||
| Carey | OUT | |||||||||||
Bold The contestant won immunity the previous week and was automatically safe the preceding week.
- (WINNER) The contestant won Best Ink.
- (RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up.
- (3RD PLACE) The contestant was in 3rd Place.
- (WIN) The contestant won best tattoo of the week, and received automatic immunity for the next week's Ink Challenge.
- (WIN) The contestant won best tattoo of the week, but did not receive automatic immunity for the next week's Ink Challenge.
- (HIGH) The contestant had one of the best tattoos of the week, but did not win.
- (IN) The contestant was safe.
- (LOW) The contestant had one of the worst tattoos of the week, but was the first to be called safe.
- (BTM2) The contestant had one of the worst tattoos of the week and was the last to be called safe.
- (OUT) The contestant was eliminated from the competition.
- ^Note 1 : Joe was originally supposed to be in the bottom 3, but since he had won the Ink Challenge the previous week he was automatically safe.
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Series overview
Season 1 (2012)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Something to Hide" | March 27, 2012 | 0.46[7] |
| 2 | 2 | "Pin-up Showdown" | April 3, 2012 | 0.33[8] |
| 3 | 3 | "Emotional Skin-Pact" | April 10, 2012 | 0.36[9] |
| 4 | 4 | "Tattoo Virgins" | April 17, 2012 | 0.31[10] |
| 5 | 5 | "Face Off" | April 24, 2012 | 0.53[11] |
| 6 | 6 | "Purrfect Ink" | May 1, 2012 | 0.52[12] |
| 7 | 7 | "The King of Ink" | May 8, 2012 | 0.44[13] |
| 8 | 8 | "For the Love of Ink" | May 15, 2012 | 0.44[14] |
Season 2 (2013)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "Bigger and Badder" | April 3, 2013 | 0.49[15] |
| 10 | 2 | "I've Got a Secret" | April 10, 2013 | 0.33[16] |
| 11 | 3 | "A Family Affair" | April 17, 2013 | 0.49[17] |
| 12 | 4 | "Live Out Loud" | April 24, 2013 | 0.38[18] |
| 13 | 5 | "A Good Laugh" | May 1, 2013 | 0.35[19] |
| 14 | 6 | "I'm Sexy and I Know It" | May 8, 2013 | 0.44[20] |
| 15 | 7 | "Brand New Life" | May 15, 2013 | 0.58[21] |
| 16 | 8 | "Be Ready For Anything" | May 22, 2013 | 0.51[22] |
| 17 | 9 | "True Love" | May 29, 2013 | 0.37[23] |
| 18 | 10 | "Full Body of Work" | June 5, 2013 | N/A |
Season 3 (2013–14)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 1 | "The Seven Deadly Sins" | December 4, 2013 | N/A |
| 20 | 2 | "Playing Dirty" | December 11, 2013 | N/A |
| 21 | 3 | "Fight Club" | December 18, 2013 | N/A |
| 22 | 4 | "Pain in the Ribs" | January 1, 2014 | N/A |
| 23 | 5 | "Quittin' Time" | January 8, 2014 | N/A |
| 24 | 6 | "Science Friction" | January 15, 2014 | 0.35[24] |
| 25 | 7 | "Man and the Machine" | January 22, 2014 | N/A |
| 26 | 8 | "Life's a Beach" | January 29, 2014 | N/A |
| 27 | 9 | "Sexy Pin-ups" | February 5, 2014 | N/A |
| 28 | 10 | "Shock and Awe" | February 12, 2014 | N/A |
| 29 | 11 | "Crash and Burn" | February 19, 2014 | 0.56[25] |
| 30 | 12 | "The $100,000 Tattoo" | February 26, 2014 | N/A |
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