Ink Master: OGs vs Young Guns is the sixteenth season of tattoo reality competition show, Ink Master which was announced on October 2, 2024.[1] It premiered on October 23, 2024, with the first three episodes premiering on Paramount+ and the following episodes being released weekly. Good Charlotte vocalist Joel Madden returns as host, while season 8 winner Ryan Ashley and Nikko Hurtado return as judges for their third season and three-time champion, DJ Tambe, returning for his second.[2]
Like the previous season, artists compete against each other for the title of Ink Master as well as a $250,000 cash prize. The season contains 16 new artists competing, which were unveiled before the season premiere. The season sees artists who have been in the industry for more than a decade and a group of newer artists who have only been tattooing for a few years.[3]
James Tex was crowned the winner of the season, with his son, Anthony Tex being the runner-up.
Judging and ranking
Judging panel
The judging panel is a table of four primary judges. The judges make their final decision by voting to see who had best tattoo of the day, and who goes home.
Jury of Peers
Whoever wins Best Tattoo of the Day, their team will be able to put one artist up for elimination, regardless what team they are on.
During the finale, six eliminated contestants returned to form a jury and voted one artist to the top two.
Contestants
The two episodes featured 16 artists competing to be one of the 12 artists that were split into two teams of 6. Two OGs and two Young Guns were eliminated if they do not earn a spot on a team.
Names, experience, and cities stated are at time of filming.
^Love was ranked the lowest and was eliminated immediately. Cat and Trevor defeated Johnny in the Face-Off to determine who would stay in the competition.
^Pony and Jorell won their Head-to-Heads against Manny and Andy to determine who would stay in the competition.
^Jenna would have been put in the bottom by the judges, but quit before they could decide on who would be eliminated.
^Lucy and James were ranked the lowest in the elimination tattoo and chose Joseph and Trevor respectively in the Face Off Tattoo.
The contestant won Ink Master.
The contestant was the runner-up.
The contestant was eliminated during the finale.
The contestant advanced to the finale.
The contestant won Best Tattoo of the Day.
The contestant won their Head-to-Head challenge.
The contestant was ranked at the top by the judges during the Blind Critique.
The contestant was among the top.
The contestant received positive critiques.
The contestant received mixed critiques.
The contestant received negative critiques.
The contestant was in the bottom.
The contestant was put in the bottom by the Jury of Peers.
The contestant was eliminated from the competition.
The contestant quit the competition.
The contestant returned as a guest in the episode.
Episodes
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Original air date
207
1
"Divide of the Decade"
October 23, 2024 (2024-10-23)
Elimination Tattoo: Sixteen new artists form two teams: the OGs, who have more than ten years of experience, and the Young Guns, who have barely just begun their tattoo career. They must battle it out with their teams until the very end. Before they battle it out against each other, they must compete to get on one of the six spots on each team. Four artists will be eliminated without getting a shop. The Young Guns compete first. The subject matter is up to then, but the style is not. They must do either American traditional, Japanese or New School. The tattoos will be judged blind. They have 5 hours to tattoo. One by one, the top four artists are revealed and are safe from elimination. The bottom ranked artist is eliminated. The last three artists have one more shot to get a spot on the team.
Top Four: Alena Wedderburn, Joseph Serrano, Jade Olivia, and Jenna Coffin
Eliminated: Love Duncan
Face-Off Tattoo: The remaining Young Guns' fate lies within their potential teammates' hands. They decided on a Neo traditional face for them to earn a spot on the team.
Eliminated: Johnny Angel
208
2
"Money Where Your Mouth Is"
October 23, 2024 (2024-10-23)
Elimination Tattoo: It is the OGs' turn to feel the heat, as they compete to snag one of the 6 spots on the team. The OGs must tattoo the same style and subject as one of the four highest ranked Young Guns from the first episode. Their tattoos will be directly compared to the Young Guns.
Top Four: James Tex, Anthony Tex, Stephanie Heffron, and Lucy Hu
Bottom: Andy Pho, Manny Fernandez, Jorell Elie, and Pony Lawson
Head-to-Head Tattoo: The lowest ranked artists must compete against each other to get the last two spots on the OG team. They must face off against another artist in a Head to Head. The higher ranked artist will be matched against the lowest ranked. The artist of the lower ranked of the two will choose the style and subject of their tattoo. The lowest was Andy's tattoo was, and he will go against the 5th ranked tattoo, which was Jorell. Andy chose black and grey realistic animal. Pony and Manny will face off, and Pony was ranked lower than Manny's. Pony chose black and grey realistic hand.
Eliminated: Manny Fernandez and Andy Pho
209
3
"Out of the Box, Onto the Skin"
October 23, 2024 (2024-10-23)
Skill of the Week: Creativity
Flash Challenge: The teams must create a life sized statue using cardboard to test their creativity in six hours. The winning team have the power to assign the human canvases during the Elimination Tattoo. The Young Guns have trouble finding unity as a team, as everyone has ideas they want to input and Jenna bumping heads with her teammates.
Winner: Young Guns
Elimination Tattoo: To push their creativity, they must tattoo Lettering tattoos. The winning tattoo's team will be able to put one artist up for elimination as a Jury of Peers. The judges were not impressed with the Jury's pick, immediately disregarding their choice and their plan backfired.
Best Tattoo of the Day: Pony Lawson
Jury of Peers' Pick: Jade Olivia
Bottom: Alena Wedderburn and Jorell Elie
Eliminated: Alena Wedderburn
210
4
"Inked in Gold"
October 30, 2024 (2024-10-30)
Skill of the Week: Ingenuity
Flash Challenge: To test their ingenuity, the teams use recyclable objects to make massive work of art on a 8-by-12 foot canvas. The Young Guns struggle with time now that they are down a teammate.
Winner: OGs
Elimination Tattoo: Artists have to tattoo metallic tattoos. Jenna questions whether or not she can handle the pressure of the competition. Although the judges agreed Jenna was in the Bottom Three, she ultimately decided to quit the competition, saving Trevor and Joseph from elimination.
Best Tattoo of the Day: James Tex
Jury of Peers' Pick: Trevor Burtz
Bottom: Joseph Serrano and Jenna Coffin
Quit: Jenna Coffin
211
5
"A Sin in Tattooing"
November 6, 2024 (2024-11-06)
Skill of the Week: Composition
Flash Challenge: Artists must test composition using grass as their canvas.
Winner: OGs
Elimination Tattoo: Artists must tattoo a Japanese Samurai.
Best Tattoo of the Day: James Tex
Jury of Peers' Pick: Trevor Burtz
Bottom: Joseph Serrano and Jorell Elie
Eliminated: Jorell Elie
212
6
"At Your Service"
November 13, 2024 (2024-11-13)
There is no Flash Challenge this episode.
Skill of the Week: Precision
Elimination Tattoo: To test precision, artists must tattoo portraits of service dogs. The tattoos will be judged blind. The picking order is randomly assigned. The episode is a double elimination.
Best Tattoo of the Day: Cat Castro
Bottom: Lucy Hu and James Tex
Face-Off Tattoo: Lucy and James must face off two different artists, tattooing the same subject and style. They can pick any artist except Cat. The artist they choose get to choose the style and subject. Lucy chose Joseph, and he chose black and grey realistic panda with graffiti. James chose Trevor and he chose black and grey realistic skull and rose.
Eliminated: Joseph Serrano and Trevor Burtz
213
7
"Monsters Ink"
November 20, 2024 (2024-11-20)
Skill of the Week: Contrast
Flash Challenge: Teams must create masterpieces on a concrete wall using tools. Since there are only two Young Guns, they get to choose one member from the OGs to join them, and they chose James.
Winner: Young Guns and James Tex
Elimination Tattoo: Artists must tattoo New School monsters.
Best Tattoo of the Day: Anthony Tex
Jury of Peers' Pick: Jade Olivia
Bottom: Lucy Hu and Stephanie Heffron
Eliminated: Lucy Hu
212
8
"Face Your Fears"
November 27, 2024 (2024-11-27)
Skill of the Week: Adaptability
Flash Challenge: For the last flash challenge of the season, artists must make two works of art on a single pane of glass. Artists have to paint both sides with two different designs and they must share the same negative space. They must compete in teams of two.
Winner: Young Guns
Elimination Tattoo: Artists must do a face tattoo. It must flow seamlessly from the side of the head and down to the cheek.
Best Tattoo of the Day: Stephanie Herron
Jury of Peers' Pick: Cat Castro
Bottom: Jade Olivia and Anthony Tex
Eliminated: Jade Olivia
213
9
"Mash Up Mayhem"
December 4, 2024 (2024-12-04)
Skill of the Week: Versatility
Elimination Tattoo #1: To earn a spot in the finale, artists must create a mashup tattoo. The artists must pick two skulls from two different groups of five. The judges will score these tattoos blind. Stephanie got American traditional geometric, Anthony got Neo traditional fine line black-and-grey, James has Biomechanical watercolor, Pony got New school surrealism, and Cat got Japanese realism.
Elimination Tattoo #2: The artists must do a second mashup tattoo in the same style and subject another artist did.
Advanced: James Tex, Anthony Tex, and Cat Castro
Eliminated: Pony Lawson and Stephanie Heffron
Finale Tattoo: The finalists must tattoo a 24 hour back piece tattoo. The style and subject is up to the artists. In a final twist, the artists must do a second master canvas in a 12 hour leg piece. The opposing team gets to choose the style and subject for their opponents. Cat chose black-and-grey photorealistic lion for both Anthony and James, and they chose an American traditional lion for her.
214
10
"OGs vs Young Gun"
December 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)
The finalists unveil their 2 Master Canvases over the course of three days. A spot in the top two is in the hands of a Jury of Peers. Stephanie, Pony and Lucy from the OGs and Jade, Joseph and Trevor from the Young Guns are brought in. The finalists' families sent in videos for them.
Jury of Peers' Pick: James Tex
Third Place: Cat Castro
Runner-Up: Anthony Tex
Winner: James Tex
No More Ink
For the season's after show, No More Ink, contestants from previous seasons, veteran artists, and various celebrities are interviewed about their careers and opinions on the episode's tattoos by the contestants. The show is hosted by judge, Ryan Ashley. A segment called "Ink Remastered" is introduced, which gives a past contestant redemption on a tattoo they were sent home on.
Episode 1: Nikko Hurtado (aired: October 23, 2024)
Episode 2: Nikki Simpson (aired: October 23, 2024)
Episode 3: Loosey LaDuca (aired: October 24, 2024)
Episode 4: Megan Massacre (aired: October 30, 2024)
Episode 5: Darren Brand (aired: November 6, 2024)
Episode 6: Mandii B (aired: November 13, 2024)
Episode 7: Natalie Cuomo (aired: November 20, 2024)
Episode 8: Andrea Richter (aired: November 27, 2024)
