Ink Master: Master vs. Apprentice is the sixth season of the tattoo reality competition series Ink Master that premiered on Spike on June 23 and concluded on October 13, 2015 with a total of 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 winner will receive a $100,000 prize, a feature in Inked Magazine, a Dodge Challenger and the title of Ink Master.
The premise of this season was featuring mentors and their apprentices as they compete against each other in an elimination-style competition.
This season saw the return of season 3 contestant Craig Foster, who originally finished the competition in 8th place.
The winner of the sixth season of Ink Master was Dave Kruseman, with Chris Blinston being the runner-up.
Judging and ranking
Judging Panel The judging panel is responsible for passing judgement on each artist. They collaborate and use information from their own perception, the audience vote, human canvas vote, and the winner's worst vote to determine who should be sent home. Weight of decisions is set by the terms of the challenge skill.
Audience Voting Audience voting is done through Facebook and Twitter, and was introduced in season 2. The audience vote was used in the finale episode to guarantee one of the finalists a spot in the top two.
Human Canvas Jury After the tattoos are completed, the canvases for the challenge gather and vote on the best and worst of that day's tattoos. While the primary judges have the final say, the weight of the canvas vote does affect the judging panels final decision.
Jury of Peers In episode two, the eight winners of the Head-to-Head challenge had to form a Jury of Peers to pick two artists to put up for elimination. These artists (including one artist picked from the Human Canvas Jury) had to participate in a Face-Off challenge to determine who would stay in the competition.
Contestants Names, experience, and cities stated are at time of filming.
Contestant Name Years ofexperience Hometown Outcome Dave Kruseman20Hagerstown, MarylandWinner Chris Blinston18Coral Springs, FloridaRunner-up Matt O'Baugh14Sherwood, Arkansas3rd place Craig Foster20 Carrollton, Georgia4th place Duffy Fortner12Prince Frederick, Maryland5th place Tyler Nolan10Ft. Lauderdale, Florida6th place Erik Campbell13 Grand Junction, Colorado7th place Katie McGowan5Sherwood, Arkansas8th place Dave Clarke 11Fort Walton Beach, Florida9th place Marisa LaRen3Ft. Lauderdale, Florida10th place Cesar "Big Ceeze" Castaneda17Anaheim, California11th place Mark S. "St. MarQ" Agee25West Lafayette, Indiana12th place Kito Talbert10Tulsa, Oklahoma13th place Earl Noble 10 St. Petersburg, Florida14th place Mat "MV" Valles6El Paso, Texas15th place Miami Burgess 23Carrollton, Georgia16th place Ryan Hadley †15Fort Wayne, Indiana17th place Brian Stephens3El Paso, Texas18th place
†: Indicates that the artist has since died after filming
Master and Apprentices Master. ApprenticeMark S. "St. MarQ" AgeeRyan HadleyChris Blinston Tyler NolanMiami Burgess Craig FosterErik CampbellMarisa LaRenCesar "Big Ceeze" CastanedaKito TalbertDave KrusemanDuffy FortnerEarl Noble Dave ClarkeMatt O'BaughKatie McGowanMat "MV" VallesBrian Stephens
The name in BOLD is the person who went further in the competition.
Contestant progress Indicates the contestant was a Master. Indicates the contestant was an Apprentice.
Contestant Episode12345678910111213141516KrusemanSAFEBTM4TOP3SAFESAFESAFEBTM3HIGHBTM4BTM2 WinnerChris BlinstonBTM4SAFEBTM2SAFEBTM3HIGHADVRunner-upMatt O'BaughSAFESAFESAFEHIGHBTM5BTM3BTM3SAFETOP2EliminatedCraig FosterSAFESAFEBTM5SAFESAFEHIGHBTM4SAFEELIM GuestDuffy FortnerBTM4SAFESAFESAFESAFESAFEBTM4BTM5BTM3BTM4ELIM GuestTyler NolanSAFESAFESAFESAFEBTM4BTM5SAFEHIGHELIM Guest BTM4TOP3TOP2TOP2BTM3SAFEELIM Guest SAFESAFEBTM4SAFESAFESAFESAFEELIM GuestDave ClarkeSAFESAFEBTM4SAFESAFEHIGHELIM GuestMarisa LaRenSAFESAFESAFEBTM3BTM4BTM4ELIM GuestBig CeezeBTM3BTM4SAFEELIM GuestSt. MarQSAFESAFESAFEELIM GuestKito TalbertSAFEBTM3BTM3BTM3SAFEELIM GuestEarl NobleSAFEBTM3SAFEELIM GuestMVLOWSAFEELIM Guest SAFESAFEELIM GuestRyan HadleyBTM4ELIM GuestBrian StephensELIM Guest
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 the Tattoo Marathon. The contestant won their Head-to-Head challenge. 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 in the bottom and voted Worst Tattoo of the Day by the Human Canvas Jury. The contestant was eliminated from the competition. The contestant was voted Worst Tattoo of the Day and was eliminated from the competition. The contestant returned as a guest for that episode.
Episodes <onlyinclude><onlyinclude>
External links