| Bgcolour: |
| ||||||||
| Num Episodes: | 8 | ||||||||
| Network: | Spike | ||||||||
| Module1: |
| ||||||||
| Next Season: | Season 2 |
The first season of the tattoo reality competition Ink Master debuted on Spike on January 17 and concluded on March 6, 2012, with a total of 8 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 received a $100,000 prize, a feature in Inked Magazine and the title of Ink Master.
The winner of the first season of Ink Master was Shane O'Neill, with Tommy Helm being the runner-up.
Names, ages, and cities stated are at time of filming.
| Contestant | Age | Hometown | Outcome | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shane O'Neill | 39 | Middletown, Delaware | Winner | |
| Tommy Helm | 38 | Brentwood, New York | Runner-up | |
| James Vaughn | 38 | Asheboro, North Carolina | 3rd place | |
| Josh Woods | 30 | Nashville, Tennessee | 4th place | |
| Léa Vendetta | 40 | Boca Raton, Florida | 5th place | |
| Bili Vegas | 29 | New York, New York | 6th place | |
| Heather Sinn | 41 | Los Angeles, California | 7th place | |
| Al Fliction | 42 | Brooklyn, New York | 8th place | |
| Jeremy Miller | 27 | Austin, Texas | 9th place | |
| Brian "B-TAT" Robinson | 30 | East Orange, New Jersey | 10th place |
| Contestant | Episode | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||
| Shane O'Neill | TOP2 | SAFE | HIGH | SAFE | Winner | ||||
| Tommy Helm | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | TOP2 | Runner-up | ||
| SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | TOP2 | BTM3 | BTM2 | Eliminated | |||
| Josh Woods | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | BTM3 | TOP2 | ELIM | |||
| Léa Vendetta | SAFE | BTM3 | HIGH | BTM2 | ELIM | ||||
| Bili Vegas | SAFE | HIGH | BTM3 | BTM3 | ELIM | ||||
| Heather Sinn | LOW | SAFE | SAFE | ELIM | |||||
| Al Fliction | SAFE | BTM3 | ELIM | ||||||
| Jeremy Miller | BTM2 | ELIM | |||||||
| B-TAT | ELIM | ||||||||
The contestant won Ink Master.
The contestant was the runner-up.
The contestant was eliminated during 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 eliminated from the competition.