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| Num Episodes: | 16 | ||||||||
| Network: | Spike | ||||||||
| Module1: |
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| Prev Season: | Peck vs Nuñez | ||||||||
| Next Season: | Return of the Masters |
Ink Master: Shop Wars is the ninth season of the tattoo reality competition Ink Master that premiered on June 6, 2017, on Spike with 16 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 winning shop received $200,000, a feature in Inked magazine, the title of Ink Master, and the title of Master Shop.
The premise of this season was having teams of two sorted by their tattoo shops going head-to-head in a tag team elimination-style competition. This season features nine rookie shops battling nine veteran shops each week while tackling a skill that exposes each veterans' shortcoming from the last time they competed.
This season saw the return of thirteen veterans; season one contestant Tommy Helm, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, season two contestant Lalo Yunda, who originally finished the competition in 10th place, season three contestants Yovan "E.S." Barraza and Richard "Made Rich" Parker, who originally finished the competition in 9th and 10th place respectively, season four contestants Aaron "Bubba" Irwin and Josh "King Ruck" Glover, who originally finished the competition in 11th/12th and 9th/10th place respectively, season five contestant Aaron "Aaron Is" Michalowski, who originally finished the competition in 6th place, season five and season seven contestant James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke, who originally finished both competitions as the runner-up, season six contestants Katie McGowan and Matt O'Baugh, who originally finished the competition in 8th and 3rd place respectively, season seven contestants Christian Buckingham and Picasso Dular, who originally finished the competition in 3rd and 13th place respectively, and season eight contestant Anwon "Boneface" Johnson, who originally finished the competition in 7th place.
The winners of the ninth season of Ink Master were Old Town Ink (Aaron "Bubba" Irwin and DJ Tambe), with Black Cobra Tattoos (Katie McGowan and Matt O'Baugh) being the runners-up.
The judging panel is a table of three or more primary judges. The judges make their final decision by voting to see who had best tattoo of the day, who's going home and who wins the competition.
The shops critique each other's work to see who had the worst tattoo of the day that will send one of them to the bottom.
The competition featured a total of 36 contestants who competed in teams of two (18 teams total). Each team acted as one throughout the competition, winning together, and losing together.
Shop names, contestant names, and cities stated are at time of filming.
| Shop Name | Contestants | Years ofexperience | Hometown | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Town Ink | 20 | Scottsdale, Arizona | Winners | |
| 10 | ||||
| Black Cobra Tattoos | 7 | Sherwood, Arkansas | Runners-up | |
| 16 | ||||
| Basilica Tattoo | 13 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 3rd place | |
| 21 | ||||
| Unkindness Art | 10 | Richmond, Virginia | 4th place | |
| 7 | ||||
| Golden Skull Tattoo | 19 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 5th place | |
| 21 | ||||
| Empire State Studio | ? | Amityville, New York | 6th place | |
| 13 | ||||
| Allegory Arts | 12 | Florence, Alabama | 7th place | |
| 14 | ||||
| Artistic Skin Designs | 6 | Indianapolis, Indiana | 8th place | |
| 7 | ||||
| Classic Trilogy Tattoo | 10 | Mattydale, New York | 9th place | |
| 12 | ||||
| Pinz & Needlez | 6 | Edgewood, Maryland | 10th place | |
| 4 | ||||
| Black Spade Tattoo | 20 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 11th place | |
| 9 | ||||
| Boneface Ink Tattoo Shop | ? | Pensacola, Florida | 12th place | |
| 18 | ||||
| House of Monkey Tattoo | 17 | Brooklyn, New York | 13th place | |
| 25 | ||||
| Think Before You Ink | 9 | Queens, New York | 14th place | |
| ? | ||||
| Tri-Cities Tattoo | 8 | Atlanta, Georgia | 15th place | |
| 4 | ||||
| Black Anchor Collective | 15 | Hesperia, California | 16th place | |
| 26 | ||||
| The Marked Society Tattoo | 17 | McDonough, Georgia | 17th place | |
| 5 | ||||
| Thicker Than Blood | 8 | White Plains, New York | 18th place | |
| 5 |
| Contestants | Original Season | Original Placement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yovan "E.S." Barraza | Season 3 | 9th place | |
| Christian Buckingham | Season 7 | 3rd place | |
| Picasso Dular | Season 7 | 13th place | |
| Josh "King Ruck" Glover | Season 4 | 9th/10th place | |
| Tommy Helm | Season 1 | Runner-up | |
| Aaron "Bubba" Irwin | Season 4 | 11th/12th place | |
| Anwon "Boneface" Johnson | Season 8 | 7th place | |
| Katie McGowan | Season 6 | 8th place | |
| Aaron "Aaron Is" Michalowski | Season 5 | 6th place | |
| Matt O'Baugh | Season 6 | 3rd place | |
| Richard "Made Rich" Parker | Season 3 | 10th place | |
| James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke | Season 5 | ||
| Season 7 | |||
| Lalo Yunda | Season 2 | 10th place |
Indicates a Newcomer shop. Indicates a Veteran shop.
| Shop | Episode | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |||
| BTM3 | HIGH | HIGH | LOW | SAFE | BTM4 | HIGH | BTM4 | BTM3 | BTM4 | ADV | Winner | |||||||
| HIGH | TOP2 | SAFE | TOP2 | BTM4 | BTM3 | ADV | Runner-up | |||||||||||
| SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM4 | HIGH | BTM3 | ADV | Eliminated | |||||||||||
| Unkindness Art | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | TOP2 | TOP2 | BTM3 | SAFE | LOW | BTM3 | TOP2 | ELIM | Guest | |||||
| Golden Skull Tattoo | BTM4 | BTM4 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||
| Empire State Studio | BTM4 | TOP2 | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||||
| Allegory Arts | SAFE | TOP3 | SAFE | BTM3 | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | BTM4 | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||
| TOP2 | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM4 | HIGH | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||
| SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | BTM3 | BTM4 | TOP2 | HIGH | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||
| Pinz & Needlez | SAFE | LOW | TOP2 | BTM3 | SAFE | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||
| Black Spade Tattoo | LOW | BTM3 | BTM4 | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||||
| SAFE | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||||
| SAFE | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||||||
| Think Before You Ink | BTM3 | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||
| Tri-Cities Tattoo | BTM3 | BTM3 | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||||
| Black Anchor Collective | TOP2 | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||
| BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||||
| Thicker Than Blood | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||||
The shop won Ink Master.
The shop was the runner-up.
The shop was eliminated during the finale.
The shop advanced to the finale
The shop was exempt from the first elimination.
The shop won Best Tattoo of the Day.
The shop was among the top.
The shop received positive critiques.
The shop received negative critiques.
The shop was in the bottom.
The shop was put in the bottom by the Jury of Peers
The shop was eliminated from the competition.
The shop was put in the bottom by the Jury of Peers and were eliminated from the competition.
The shop returned as a guest for that episode.