Ink Master: Revenge is the seventh season of the tattoo reality competition Ink Master that aired on Spike on March 1 and concluded on May 24, 2016 with a total of 13 episodes. The show is hosted and judged by Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, with accomplished tattoo artists Chris Núñez and Oliver Peck serving as series regular judges. The winner will receive a $100,000 prize, a feature in Inked Magazine and the title of Ink Master.
The premise of this season was featuring eight contestants competing against eight returning veterans in an elimination-style competition.
This season saw the return of eight veterans; season one contestant James Vaughn, who originally finished the competition in 3rd place, season two contestants Sarah Miller and Jesse Smith, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up and in 5th place respectively, season three contestant Jime Litwalk, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, season four contestants Walter "Sausage" Frank and Matti Hixson, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up and in 3rd place respectively, season five contestant James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, and season six contestant Mark S. "St. MarQ" Agee, who originally finished the competition in 12th place.
The winner of the seventh season of Ink Master was Anthony Michaels, with James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke being the runner-up.
Judging and ranking
Judging Panel
The judging panel is responsible for passing judgement on each artist. They collaborate and use information from their own perception, the audience vote, human canvas vote, and the winner's worst vote to determine who should be sent home. Weight of decisions is set by the terms of the challenge skill.
Human Canvas Jury
After the tattoos are completed, the canvases for the challenge gather and vote on the best and worst of that day's tattoos. While the primary judges have the final say, the weight of the canvas vote does affect the judging panels final decision.
Contestants
Names, experience, and cities stated are at time of filming.
^Cleen and Matti were originally deemed as safe, but Jime and Sausage challenged them in the Face-Off challenge to determine who would stay in the competition.
^Anthony defeated Jesse in the Face-Off challenge to determine who would stay in the competition.
^Anthony and Christian won their Head-to-Head Face-Off challenge against Cleen and James to determine who would advance to the finale, and then Cleen won his Face-Off challenge against James.
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 was among the top.
The contestant received positive critiques.
The contestant received negative critiques.
The contestant was in the bottom.
The contestant was in the bottom and voted Worst Tattoo of the Day by the Human Canvas Jury.
The contestant was eliminated from the competition.
The contestant was voted Worst Tattoo of the Day and was eliminated from the competition.
The contestant returned as a guest for that episode.
Episodes
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Original air date
US viewers (millions)
80
1
"Initiation"
March 1, 2016 (2016-03-01)
3.35
Skill of the Week: Fundamentals
The Flash Challenge: Eight rookie artists squared off in a three-part challenge. They were given four hours to first do a full-body sketch of a nude model, assemble both a liner and shader machine from Seth Cifferi, and then tattoo the drawing they did earlier with the machines they built on a dead pig.
Winner: Christian Buckingham
Returning Veteran: St. MarQ
Elimination Tattoo: The rookies were surprised to learn from the judges that they will be faced with a new returning artist from a previous Ink Master season each week, and that the returning artist each week is given the opportunity to choose the elimination tattoo. St. MarQ challenges the artists to tattoo one of the seven deadly sins in black and grey, using only shading needles.
Top Artists: Megan Jean Morris and Christian Buckingham
Best Tattoo of the Day: Megan Jean Morris
Bottom: Corey Davis, Ashley Velazquez and St. MarQ
Eliminated: Corey Davis
81
2
"One Man's Trash"
March 8, 2016 (2016-03-08)
3.17
Skill of the Week: Contrast
Flash Challenge: The artists work in teams of two to make a sculpture out of recyclable trash. Then, they must use a beamlight on their sculpture to create a shadow that has contrast.
Winner: Ashley Velazquez & Alex Rockoff
Returning Veteran: Cleen Rock One
Elimination Tattoo: The artists take Cleen's style by tattooing neo-traditional hot rods and choppers.
Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One
Human Canvas Jury: Cris Gherman, Alex Rockoff and Ashley Velazquez
Eliminated: Cris Gherman
82
3
"Salt in the Wound"
March 16, 2016 (2016-03-16)
2.89
Skill of the Week: Creativity
Flash Challenge: Working in teams of two, the artists use salt to create their masterpiece.
Winner: Christian Buckingham & Megan Jean Morris
Returning Veteran: Sausage
Elimination Tattoo: The artists must use the canvas's likeness in a comic book themed tattoo.
Top Artists: Sausage and Anthony Michaels
Best Tattoo of the Day: Anthony Michaels
Bottom: Cleen Rock One, Picasso Dular and Ashley Velazquez
Eliminated: Ashley Velazquez
83
4
"The Devil's in the Details"
March 22, 2016 (2016-03-22)
3.01
Skill of the Week: Detail
Flash Challenge: Tattooing a fingerprint of the canvas's loved one, scanned by Adrian Gardner.
Winner: Cleen Rock One
Returning Veteran: Matti Hixson
Elimination Tattoo: The artists must tattoo a Venetian mask, focusing on detail.
Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One
Bottom: Picasso Dular, Alex Rockoff, Anthony Michaels and Megan Jean Morris
Eliminated: Picasso Dular
84
5
"New School, Old Artist"
March 29, 2016 (2016-03-29)
2.66
Skill of the Week: Color Theory
Flash Challenge: The artists head to Coney Island Freak Show where they must work in teams of two to airbrush a pair of contortionists and create a mind blowing illusion.
Winner: Megan Jean Morris & Sausage
Returning Veteran: Jime Litwalk
Elimination Tattoo: The artists tackle Jime's specialty by tattooing a New School dinosaur.
Top Artists: Sausage and Cleen Rock One
Best Tattoo of the Day: Sausage
Bottom: Megan Jean Morris, Alex Rockoff and St. MarQ
Eliminated: St. MarQ
85
6
"Under Pressure"
April 5, 2016 (2016-04-05)
2.59
Skill of the Week: Composition
Flash Challenge: A pair of artists create a dynamic composition on a dirty semi truck using a power washer.
Winner: Anthony Michaels & Matti Hixson
Returning Veteran: Sarah Miller
Elimination Tattoo: An interesting elimination tattoo has the artists tattooing a surrealistic female but Sarah's strategy backfired.
Best Tattoo of the Day: Megan Jean Morris
Bottom: Jime Litwalk, Sarah Miller, Alex Rockoff and Cleen Rock One
Eliminated: Alex Rockoff
86
7
"Knuckle Sandwich"
April 12, 2016 (2016-04-12)
2.82
Skill of the Week: Precision
Flash Challenge: The artists design custom lettering on the knuckles, without using references.
Winner: Cleen Rock One
Returning Veteran: Jesse Smith
Elimination Tattoo: The remaining artists must be on their A game when they have to tattoo a black & grey portrait of a political figure. Jesse redeemed himself from his elimination in Season 2.
Top Artists: Sausage and Christian Buckingham
Best Tattoo of the Day: Christian Buckingham
Bottom: Cleen Rock One, Jime Litwalk and Sarah Miller
Eliminated: Sarah Miller
87
8
"Breathing Fire"
April 19, 2016 (2016-04-19)
3.00
Skill of the Week: Legibility
Flash Challenge: The artists work in teams of two to make a large-scale legible design out of pushpins.
Winner: Cleen Rock One & Christian Buckingham
Returning Veteran: James Vaughn
Elimination Tattoo: The artists aim to create a Japanese dragon with water.
Top Artists: James Vaughn, Cleen Rock One and Anthony Michaels
Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One
Bottom: Jime Litwalk, Sausage, Matti Hixon and Megan Jean Morris
Eliminated: Megan Jean Morris
88
9
"Sink or Soar"
April 26, 2016 (2016-04-26)
3.04
Skill of the Week: Texture
Elimination Tattoo: The artists work in teams of two to tattoo a full set of wings on the canvas's back at the same time, with one artist working on a "good" wing and the other tattooing an "evil" wing.
Top Artists: James Vaughn and Christian Buckingham
Best Tattoo of the Day: James Vaughn
Bottom: Jime Litwalk and Sausage
Face Off Tattoo: Jime and Sausage were given one last chance to redeem themselves as Dave asked them each to pick an artist to face for a head-to-head elimination tattoo. The chosen artist picked the style and subject for their face-off. Sausage picked Matti and Jime picked Cleen.
Eliminated: Jime Litwalk and Sausage
89
10
"Shipwrecked"
May 3, 2016 (2016-05-03)
2.78
Skill of the Week: Adaptability
Elimination Tattoo: The artists work in teams of three to tattoo American traditional clipper ship with one member from each team working on line work, shading or color. The teams must then decide on the weakest member who will then be put up for elimination.
Face-Off Tattoo: Anthony and Jesse have six hours to adaptability to tattoo their own subject and style from scratch without any references.
Eliminated: Jesse Smith
90
11
"Head in the Game"
May 10, 2016 (2016-05-10)
2.81
Skill of the Week: Ingenuity
Flash Challenge: The final five created a design on the canvas's foreheads.
Winner: James Vaughn
Elimination Tattoo: The artists must use ingenuity to cover up the canvas' despised tattoo.
Top Artists: Anthony Michaels and James Vaughn
Best Tattoo of the Day: Anthony Michaels
Bottom: Cleen Rock One, Matti Hixson and Christian Buckingham
Eliminated: Matti Hixson
91
12
"Turning the Tables"
May 17, 2016 (2016-05-17)
3.30
Elimination Tattoo: The rookies finally get their revenge by picking the veteran artist they want to face in addition to picking the style and subject. Anthony picked Cleen in the battle to tattoo a realistic black and grey woman they drew while Christian and James duke it out in the realistic full bodied black and grey wolf tattoo. Their strategy gave them a huge advantage to the live finale.
Face-Off Tattoo: Cleen and James had one last chance to earn a spot in the finale with them calling their own shots this time. While James picked a Japanese fu dog on a peony, Cleen settled in on New School with a snake wrapping a skull on top of a dagger.
Eliminated: James Vaughn
Finale Tattoo - Part 1: The final three artists are tasked to do 48 hours of tattooing where they have to tattoo each canvas for 24 hours. In the first part, the judges chose the style for each artist they struggled tattooing during the competition. They then must tattoo their assigned style to the chest with Anthony doing Japanese full color, Christian doing American Traditional and Cleen working on fine line black and grey.
Finale Tattoo - Part 2: Dave gave the artists good news where they have to tattoo a sleeve in the style of their choice. The judges and the viewers will choose which one artist to advance to the final two along with the second artist chosen by the jury of eliminated artists while the artist who didn't advance to the final will join the jury.
92
13
"Revenge Live"
May 24, 2016 (2016-05-24)
3.57
Each artist did their tattoos in their hometown before returning to New York to present their final work. The winner of the chest piece tattoo that was voted by the fans will receive $20,000 from Gildan USA.
Tattoo Rematch: Matti and Sausage square off with the winner, who was chosen by the loudest reaction from the audience, tattooing their winning design on the artist who loses this rematch.
Winner: Sausage
Tattoo: A sausage with the sentence "#TeamSausage" inside.
