Ink Master: Battle of the Sexes — What Worked, What Didn’t

The Paramount Network’s Ink Master differs from other creativity-based reality competition shows due to the nature of the finished product. Since the art being judged will be on someone’s actual skin for the rest of their life, the stakes are automatically higher than with, say, a cake or a home renovation. Otherwise, it’s a formula you’ve seen before: One challenge determines strategy, one challenge determines who goes home, and a panel of judges make the final call. It’s a tried-and-true formula, and it's executed well in Ink Master. And although Season 12, which wraps up this week, has hardly been the show's strongest, the show has never backed down from trying new ideas in the name of keeping things fresh. Here’s a breakdown of all of this season’s new developments, and how well they succeeded.

Worked: Gender Parity

The tattoo world is still relatively male-dominated, and past seasons of Ink Master have reflected this. No prior season’s contestant pool has been more than 33% female, and the franchise boasts only one female champion: Season 8’s Ryan Ashley Malarkey.

So it was refreshing that Season 12 began with a 50/50 balance and didn’t jettison most of the largely younger and less experienced female artists straightaway. In fact, this season’s cast has been particularly talented, with few artists of either gender turning in objectively bad tattoos. And while none of the inter-team conflicts reached the pantheon of epic Ink Master blowups, there have been enough strong personalities to sustain the season.

Didn’t Work: Pitting Women Against Men

It’s hard to believe that men in 2019 are still making jokes like, “I'm not going to be worried about my nails or my hair while I'm doing a tat,” but that’s exactly what came out of eventual fifth-place finisher Pon Deman’s mouth in the season premiere. By compelling the contestants to treat the opposite sex as the enemy, the “Battle of the Sexes” theme frequently brought out the worst, most antiquated side of contestants on both genders, and the show seemed to consider it a feature, not a bug. Unlike in previous seasons, the teams never dissolved, meaning there was never a point when gender ceased to be a factor. And no episode was complete without at least one woman noting that she had something to prove about women in the industry, which definitely got old.

In one of the season’s dominant narrative arcs, Laura Marie — one of the group’s strongest artists, and one of the three finalists — formed an alliance with two talented artists on the men’s team, which would probably have been heralded as smart gameplay had gender not been a factor. In a battle-of-the-sexes scenario, though, whenever it appeared that Laura was torn between her allegiance to the women’s team and her friendships with Cam and Creepy Jason, the implicit message was that she was betraying her entire gender. Never mind that by finale time, Laura was shown to be equally close to teammate and fellow finalist Dani Ryan, and never mind that few called out the men for befriending a woman. The producers and editors placed that responsibility on Laura’s shoulders.

Worked: Creative Flash Challenges

In early seasons, Ink Master’s first-round challenges, designed to give one competitor a strategic advantage in the elimination tattoo, were almost entirely tattoo-based, but over time, challenges have strayed further from traditional tattooing. Contestants this season  had their creativity tested by sculpting with electrical wire, engraving a suit of armor, and painting a mural by shooting paintball guns at a wall. Tattoo purists are occasionally annoyed by these seemingly irrelevant skill tests, but if you’re watching solely to see great art in action, the off-the-wall arts and crafts can be as interesting as the actual tattoos.

Didn’t Work: Coaches

Ink Master has always loved bringing back former contestants, whether it’s to compete again, to fix a terrible tattoo they did on the show, or to star in their own spinoff series. This season, alumni — one woman and one man per episode — returned to the show to coach the teams and take credit for their victories, with the winning coaches invited back to compete for an additional cash prize at the finale. However, while longtime viewers certainly enjoyed seeing familiar face (and it was great to acknowledge a few female artists who never got their due as competitors), the actual “coaching” seemed negligible. It’s not clear that contestants actually took any of the advice offered them, or that it would have affected the outcome if they had. What’s more, the concept appeared to fall to the wayside mid-season.

So what could have taken the coaches’ place? Fresh blood, for one. In the early days of the series, the show frequently featured guest judges ranging from mainstream celebs (Hugh Jackman and George Lucas among them) to A-listers from the tattoo world. While their names may not have meant as much to casual viewers, well-respected artists like Nikko Hurtado and Mike Rubendall typically provided an excellent entry point for anyone looking to learn more about the art form. (Not to mention the fact that it was fun to watch contestants’ awed reactions to meeting bona-fide legends in their field.) It’s to Ink Master's detriment that recent seasons have mostly relied on personalities from the show's own ecosystem.

Worked: Subtle, One-sided Fashion Wars

Host/judge Dave Navarro has always dressed like the rock star he literally is, so it’s never a surprise when he rolls up looking like he’s just been to Stevie Nicks’ garage sale. Evidently jealous of the attention Navarro gets as the resident style king of Ink Master, fellow judge Chris Nunez has stepped up his own game this season, with such questionable style choices as Cosby sweaters, Hammer pants, and an apparent leopard-print slanket. Nunez’s peacocking has sparked no reaction whatsoever from Navarro, but fans have most definitely taken notice. And since everyone gets a little more dressed up for the finale, we can expect that his crowning sartorial achievement is yet to come.

The Ink Master: Battle of the Sexes season finale airs on The Paramount Network Tuesday, September 24 at 10pm ET.

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Jessica Liese has been writing and podcasting about TV since 2012. Follow her on Twitter at @HaymakerHattie.