The second season of the tattoo reality competition Ink Master premiered on Spike on October 9 and concluded December 18, 2012 with a total of 13 episodes.
Season two follows sixteen tattoo artists competing against each other in an elimination-style competition leaving the last person standing with the title of Ink Master, a $100,000 grand prize, and a feature in Inked Magazine. The show is hosted and judged by Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. Other judges include former Miami Ink cast member Chris Núñez and accomplished tattoo artist Oliver Peck.
Season 2 contestants Sarah Miller and Jesse Smith returned for Ink Master: Revenge. Sarah Miller was introduced in episode 6. She was then eliminated in episode 7. Jesse Smith was introduced in episode 7 and was eliminated in episode 10.
Dave Navarro (Host and judge)
Chris Núñez (Judge)
Oliver Peck (Judge)
Terrell Suggs (Ep. 2 Elimination)
Richard Stell (Ep. 3 Elimination)
Matt Barnes (Ep. 4 Flash Challenge and Elimination)
Freddy Negrete (Ep. 8 Elimination)
Mike Rubendall (Ep. 9 Elimination)
Forrest Cavacco (Ep. 10 Elimination)
Bob Tyrrell (Ep. 11 Elimination)
Darenzia (Ep.6 Elimination) - Model
Brent Weedman (Ep. 9 Elimination) - Human canvas
Lloyd Woodard (Ep. 9 Elimination) - Human canvas
Jeff Hardy (Ep. 10 Elimination) - Human canvas
Charlie Johnson (Ep. 12 Elimination) - Human canvas
King Mo (Ep. 12 Elimination) - Human canvas
Scott McKillop (Ep. 12 Elimination) - Human canvas
Marcus Stroud (Ep. 12 Elimination) - Human canvas
Credit Order: Mark, Ron, Tatu Baby, Lalo, Kay Kutta, Steve, Jesse, Clint, Jamie, Sarah, TJ Hal, Sebastian, Nick, Mike, Tray, Cee Jay
Legend
INKMASTER The contestant won the competition and was named Ink Master.
RUNNER UP The contestant was the runner-up on Ink Master.
3RD PLACE The contestant was 3rd place on Ink Master.
WIN The contestant won best tattoo of the week.
HIGH The contestant was given an honorable mention by the judges.
HIGH The contestant was considered to be given an honorable mention.
LOW The contestant was among the bottom group in the judges recall.
LOW The contestant was considered to be in the bottom.
OUT The contestant was eliminated from the competition.
QUIT The contestant quit the competition.
^Note c1 : TJ quit the competition due to an aggravated injury.
^Note c2 : The judges were not impressed this week and did not choose a winner.
^Note c3 : Tray was not present for his elimination since he was at the hospital handling a preexisting condition.
Episodes begin with a Flash Challenge, a simple task that usually does not deal with tattooing itself, but has contestants utilize skills related to tattooing in an unusual way. Most of the time the skills highlighted in the Flash Challenge will be needed to complete the Elimination Tattoo. The winner of the Flash Challenge gets to pick which human canvas they would like to tattoo during the elimination tattoo and, as a new twist from the first season, assign each contestant their canvas. The contestants are then given a chance to meet with their canvas before tattooing them the next day when they will be given a set amount of time to do the tattoo. A judging panel then commences where the best tattoos of the week are recognized, the weak tattoos are pointed out and one contestant is eliminated from the competition.
First aired October 9, 2012
Skill of the Week: Fundamentals
Flash Challenge: Tattoo a snake and dagger design on silicon mannequins.
Winner: Jesse
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo "tattoo virgins" with a design of their choice.
Winner: Steve
Eliminated: Cee Jay — The judges could not overlook the fact that she misspelled Corinthians (tattooed as "Cortnthians") as well as having a sketchy outline.
First aired October 9, 2012
Skill of the Week: Ingenuity
Flash Challenge: Camouflage semi-nude women to blend into the side of a building.
Winner: Kay Kutta
Elimination Challenge: Cover up an unwanted tattoo on their human canvas.
Winner: Jesse
Eliminated: Mike — While both Lalo and Tray had numerous mistakes on their cover-ups, the judges felt Mike took the easy way out and had a limited color palette.
Quit: TJ
Notes: TJ left the competition due to an aggravated injury.
First aired October 16, 2012
Skill of the Week: Lines
Flash Challenge: Shave a design on the head of a human canvas that emphasizes line work.
Winner: Kay Kutta
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a military veteran with an American Traditional tattoo which must include an eagle and a flag.
Winner: N/A
Eliminated: Ron — Although everyone did a bad tattoo, Ron was eliminated because his sketch was too rough in many areas.
Notes: The judges were not impressed with any tattoos this week and chose no winner.
First aired October 23, 2012
Skill of the Week: Color
Flash Challenge: A two-round competition with the contestants divided first into groups of six with the top contestant from each group competing head-to-head to determine the winner. Each group tattooed the same design based on tattoo flashes.
Winner: Tray
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a fantastical new school design.
Winner: Sarah
Eliminated: Nick — Nick failed to handle his client, and his tattoo was badly executed despite being colorful.
Notes: For the flash challenge, the contestants were randomly divided as follows:
Group 1 (Lotus and Water): Clint, Jamie, Kay Kutta, Steve, Tatu Baby, and Tray
Group 2 (Skull with a Top Hat): Lalo, Jesse, Mark, Nick, Sarah, and Sebastian
The top contestant from each group, Tray and Sarah respectively, competed head-to-head tattooing a gypsy woman design.
First aired October 30, 2012
Skill of the Week: Texture
Flash Challenge: Tattoo the inside of the mouth of a human canvas.
Winner: Clint
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo in the horror style.
Winner: Steve
Eliminated: Tray — While Kay's tattoo was badly executed and Mark's looked like a cover-up, Tray's tattoo had no texture despite being more solid.
Notes: Tray was not present at his elimination due to being at the hospital handling a pre-existing condition.
Episode 6: Half Naked and Fully Loaded
First aired November 6, 2012
Skill of the Week: Attention to Detail
Flash Challenge: Etch a detailed design into the buttstock of a rifle.
Winner: Steve
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a pin-up design based on photographs taken during a session with burlesque performer Darenzia.
Winner: Steve
Eliminated: Lalo — While Mark's tattoo had similar mistakes; Lalo's tattoo was less detailed, and he had been up for elimination more times than Mark.
Notes: Kay Kutta did not compete in the flash challenge due to terms of his probation.
First aired November 13, 2012
Skill of the Week: Contrast
Flash Challenge: Paint a Clone Trooper helmet with an emphasis on contrast.
Winner: Clint
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a Star Wars inspired design.
Winner: Tatu Baby
Eliminated: Kay Kutta — While the judges praised his fight and passion, they felt his lack of experience was becoming too apparent to ignore.
Notes: All helmets from the flash challenge were auctioned off with the winning helmet signed by George Lucas; all proceeds went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
First aired November 20, 2012
Skill of the Week: Gradation & Adaptability
Flash Challenge: Work in teams of two to create a collaborative design on a 7' x 7' scratchboard that was later viewed under a blacklight.
Winners: Jesse & Tatu Baby
Elimination Challenge: Work in teams of two to create a black-and-gray tattoo (on the same human canvas) with a good-and-evil theme.
Winner: Tatu Baby
Eliminated: Mark — After being up for elimination four times in a row, the judges felt his tattoo was not good enough for him to continue.
Notes: For the flash challenge, the teams were determined by the winner of the previous week's elimination challenge, Tatu Baby. The teams for the flash challenge were:
Clint & Jamie
Jesse & Tatu Baby
Mark & Sarah
Sebastian & Steve
For the elimination challenge, the pairs were:
Clint & Sarah
Jamie & Steve
Jesse & Tatu Baby
Mark & Sebastian
First aired November 27, 2012
Skill of the Week: Balance
Flash Challenge: Burn a design into a cowgirl's chaps.
Winner: Jamie
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a Japanese design.
Winner: Jesse
Eliminated: Clint — In trying too hard to get lots of detail in his tattoo, Clint's design became unreadable.
First aired December 4, 2012
Skill of the Week: Dimension
Flash Challenge: Customize one of Dave Navarro's guitars.
Winner: Jesse
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a design that includes an animal.
Winner: Steve
Eliminated: Jamie — The tattoo lacked dimension. Jamie was also criticized for not having any visible tattoos himself; which led to drama with the judges.
First aired December 11, 2012
Skill of the Week: Precision
Flash Challenge: Tattoo a mini-tattoo of the Jägermeister logo.
Winner: Steve
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a portrait design.
Winner: Sarah
Eliminated: Jesse — The face of the tattoo did not match the reference photo and his inexperience in black & grey was too obvious to ignore.
First aired December 18, 2012
Skill of the Week: All skills previously tested.
Flash Challenge: None
Elimination Challenge: Tattoo a design for a professional athlete.
Winner: Steve
Eliminated: Tatu Baby
Notes: The athletes met with each artist and chose who would tattoo them based on a random order. The order and pickings were as follows:
King Mo chose Sebastian
Scott McKillop chose Sarah
Charlie Johnson chose Tatu Baby
Marcus Stroud was left with Steve
First aired December 18, 2012
Final Challenge: Complete a 24-hour tattoo in four six-hour sittings.
Ink Master: Steve
First Runner-Up: Sarah
Second Runner-Up: Sebastian
Notes: The first tattoo artist eliminated, Sebastian, was due to receiving the fewest votes on the show's site.
Clint Cummings (1980-2016) passed away on December 23, 2016 from a long battle of stage 4 colorectal cancer. He was only 36 years old.
