Ink Master season 16

Ink Master
Season 16
Promotional poster featuring judges and contestants
Hosted byJoel Madden
Judges
No. of contestants16
WinnerJames Tex
No. of episodes10
Release
Original networkParamount+
Original releaseOctober 23 (2024-10-23) –
December 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 15

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

[edit]

Judging panel

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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

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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

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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.

Contestant Name Years of
experience 		Hometown Outcome
James Tex 26 Calgary, Canada Winner
Anthony Tex 13 Calgary, Canada Runner Up
Cat Castro 8 Riverside, California 3rd Place
Stephanie Heffron 14 Tucson, Arizona 4th place
Pony Lawson 22 Chicago, Illinois 5th place
Jade Olivia 3 Everett, Massachusetts 6th place
Lucy Hu 20 Alhambra, California 7th place
Trevor Burtz 9 San Clemente, California 8th place
Joseph Serrano 4 Puerto Rico 9th place
Jorell Elie 15 Atlanta, Georgia 10th place
Jenna Coffin 5 Edmonton, Canada 11th place[a]
Alena Wedderburn 10 New York City, New York 12th place
Andy Pho 13 Hutto, Texas 13th place
Manny Fernandez 13 Las Vegas, Nevada 14th place
Johnny Angel 4 Sacramento, California 15th place
Love Duncan 6 Alexandria, Virginia 16th place
Notes
  1. ^ Coffin quit the competition.

Chosen

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OGs
James Tex
Anthony Tex
Stephanie Heffron
Lucy Hu
Pony Lawson
Jorell Elie
Young Guns
Alena Wedderburn
Joseph Serrano
Jade Olivia
Jenna Coffin
Cat Castro
Trevor Burtz

Not chosen

[edit]
Contestant Name
Love Duncan
Johnny Angel
Manny Fernandez
Andy Pho

Contestant progress

[edit]

  Indicates the contestant was a Young Gun.
  Indicates the contestant was an OG.

Contestant Episode
1[a][b] 2[c][d] 3 4[e] 5 6[f] 7 8 9 10
James Tex SAFE WIN LOW WIN WIN BTM4 TOP3 TOP2 ADV Winner
Anthony Tex SAFE TOP4 LOW HIGH SAFE HIGH WIN BTM3 ADV Runner-up
Cat Castro BTM4 SAFE HIGH TOP3 TOP2 WIN TOP3 BTM3 ADV Eliminated
Stephanie Heffron SAFE TOP4 TOP2 LOW SAFE SAFE BTM3 WIN ELIM Guest
Pony Lawson SAFE WIN WIN TOP3 HIGH HIGH SAFE HIGH ELIM Guest
Jade Olivia TOP4 SAFE BTM3 SAFE SAFE HIGH BTM3 ELIM Guest
Lucy Hu SAFE TOP4 SAFE LOW SAFE BTM4 ELIM Guest
Trevor Burtz BTM4 SAFE SAFE BTM3 BTM3 ELIM Guest
Joseph Serrano TOP4 SAFE LOW BTM3 BTM3 ELIM Guest
Jorell Elie SAFE WIN BTM3 SAFE ELIM
Jenna Coffin TOP4 SAFE LOW QUIT
Alena Wedderburn WIN SAFE ELIM
Andy Pho SAFE ELIM
Manny Fernandez SAFE ELIM
Johnny Angel ELIM
Love Duncan ELIM
  1. ^ The OGs were exempt from elimination.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ The Young Guns were exempt from elimination.
  4. ^ Pony and Jorell won their Head-to-Heads against Manny and Andy to determine who would stay in the competition.
  5. ^ Jenna would have been put in the bottom by the judges, but quit before they could decide on who would be eliminated.
  6. ^ 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

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No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleOriginal air date
2071"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
2082"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
2093"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
2104"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
2115"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
2126"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
2137"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
2128"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
2139"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.
21410"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

[edit]

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)
  • Episode 9: Maino (aired: December 4, 2024)
  • Episode 10: Bang Bang (aired: December 11, 2024)

References

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  1. ^ M, Paul (October 2, 2024). "Paramount+ Reveals Ink Master Season 16 Lineup Ahead of October Premiere". MemorableTV.
  2. ^ Manfredi, Lucas (October 2, 2024). "'Ink Master': OGs, Young Guns Go Tat for Tat in Season 16 Trailer - Exclusive Video". The Wrap.
  3. ^ "Paramount+ Reveals Stacked Lineup of Contestants for the Much Anticipated Return of "Ink Master"". The Futon Critic. October 2, 2024.
[edit]
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