Ink Master ( Season 1 ) - wikipedia Ink Master ( Season 1 ) Ink Master ( season 1 ) Country of origin United States No. of episodes 8 Release Original network Spike Original release January 12 ( 2012 - 01 - 12 ) -- March 6, 2012 ( 2012 - 03 - 06 ) Additional information Host ( s ) Dave Navarro Judges Oliver Peck Chris Núñez No. of contestants 10 Winner Shane O'Neill Season chronology Next → 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 follows the lives of ten tattoo artists competing against each other in an elimination - style competition leaving the last person standing with the title of Ink Master and a $100,000 grand prize. 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. The winner was Shane O'Neill of Middletown, Delaware. Contents 1 Artists 2 Contestant Progress 3 Episodes 4 Epilogue 5 References 6 External links Artists Contestant Age Hometown Al Fliction 42 Brooklyn, New York Tommy Helm 38 Brentwood, New York Jeremy Miller 27 Austin, Texas Shane O'Neill 39 Middletown, Delaware Brian `` B - TAT '' Robinson 30 East Orange, New Jersey Heather Sinn 41 Los Angeles, California James Vaughn 38 Asheboro, North Carolina Bili Vegas 29 New York, New York Léa Vendetta 40 Boca Raton, Florida Josh Woods 30 Nashville, Tennessee Contestant progress No. Contestants 5 6 7 8 No. Flash Challenge Winner Josh Bili Al Fliction Josh Shane Tommy Shane None Shane O'Neil HIGH IN WIN HIGH IN WIN WIN WINNER Tommy Helm WIN IN IN IN IN LOW HIGH RUNNER - UP James Vaughn IN WIN IN IN HIGH LOW LOW 3RD PLACE Josh Woods IN IN LOW LOW WIN HIGH OUT 5 Léa Vendetta IN LOW HIGH WIN LOW OUT 6 Bili Vegas IN IN LOW LOW OUT 7 Heather Sinn IN IN IN OUT 8 Al Fliction IN LOW OUT 9 Jeremy Miller LOW OUT 10 B - TAT OUT The contestant won the competition and was named Ink Master. The contestant was the runner - up. The contestant finished third in the competition. The contestant won best tattoo of the week. The contestant was given an honorable mention by the judges. The contestant was considered to be among the top. The contestant was among the bottom group in the judges recall. The contestant was eliminated from the competition. The contestant won the flash challenge but was eliminated from the competition. Episodes No. overall No. in season Title Original air date U.S. viewers ( millions ) `` Fresh Meat '' January 17, 2012 ( 2012 - 01 - 17 ) N / A Skill of the Week : Raw Talent Flash Challenge : The artists head inside the slaughterhouse where they have 90 minutes to tattoo a skull in the style of their choice on a pig. Winner : Josh Elimination Tattoo : The artists cover up their canvases ' tattoo they regret getting. Best Tattoo : Tommy Bottom : B - TAT and Jeremy Eliminated : B - TAT `` Botched Head Tattoo '' January 24, 2012 ( 2012 - 01 - 24 ) N / A Skill of the Week : Line Flash Challenge : The artists must show their line work on a car. Each artists picked a key that contain a number to their assigned car. Guest Judge : Ton Jones Winner : Bili Elimination Tattoo : The artists tattoo a tribal design. Problems occurred during the elimination tattoo. Due to his canvas ' condition with psoriasis, Shane ended up tattooing Flash Challenge guest judge Ton as the only option for him. Billi struggled tattooing his canvases whose blood pressure started to go down while getting his head tattoo. Therefore, he was unable to finish it. Best Tattoo : James Bottom : Al Fliction, Léa and Jeremy Eliminated : Jeremy `` Pasties and a Camel Toe '' January 31, 2012 ( 2012 - 01 - 31 ) N / A Skill of the Week : Shading Flash Challenge : The artists paint their model into a 3D design. Winner : Al Fliction Elimination Tattoo : The artists must design a black and grey tattoo. Best Tattoo : Shane Bottom : Al Fliction, Bili and Josh Eliminated : Al Fliction `` Ink Disaster Piece '' February 7, 2012 ( 2012 - 02 - 07 ) N / A Skill of the Week : Technical Precision Guest Judge : Todd Weinberger Flash Challenge : The artists carefully placed a bevel star on the client 's choice spot in either the knee or elbow. Instead of skulls, each canvas picked a bevel star with the artist 's name on the back. Winner : Josh Woods Elimination Tattoo : The artist must tattoo photo realism. Best Tattoo : Léa Bottom : Bili, Heather and Josh Eliminated : Heather 5 5 `` Game On '' February 14, 2012 ( 2012 - 02 - 14 ) N / A Skill of the Week : Color Guest Judge : Scott Campbell Flash challenge : The artists have two hours to paint prosthetics that reflect their amputated canvas ' personality. Winner : Shane O'Neill Elimination Tattoo : The artists must create a colorful American Traditional. Best Tattoo : Josh Bottom : Bili and Léa Eliminated : Bili 6 6 `` Permanent Mistakes '' February 21, 2012 ( 2012 - 02 - 21 ) N / A Skill of the Week : Proportion Guest Judge : Chris `` Birdman '' Andersen Flash Challenge : The artists meet Dave at church that serves as inspiration behind their next challenge. They each have 45 minutes to tattoo prayer hands. Winner : Tommy Elimination Tattoo : The artists tattoo a pin - up that shows proportion. Best Tattoo : Shane Bottom : James, Léa and Tommy Eliminated : Léa 7 7 `` Picture Imperfect '' February 28, 2012 ( 2012 - 02 - 28 ) N / A Skill of the Week : Lettering Guest Judge : Jack Rudy Flash Challenge : The artists spray painted a graffiti design. Winner : Shane O'Neill Elimination Tattoo : Portrait tattoos highlight the elimination tattoo but some artists felt uncomfortable with the subject because they also need to include lettering in their portrait while capturing the likeness. Best Tattoo : Shane Bottom : James and Josh Eliminated : Josh 8 8 `` Ink Master Revealed '' March 6, 2012 ( 2012 - 03 - 06 ) Final Elimination Tattoo : The judges pick a random design for each artist that is based on their portfolio and their work on the show. Peck assigned James with the Japanese calf sleeve. Tommy got the dark and heavy tattoo. And Nunez picked another Japanese tattoo for Shane, but bigger. The artists have 12 hours to tattoo. However, that is not the only part of the elimination tattoo as they also have to create a 6 hour tattoo in the style of their choice. 3rd Place : James Winner : Shane Epilogue Tommy Helm had his own show entitled Tattoo Nightmares that aired on Spike for three seasons. In addition, he appeared alongside his co-stars in the live Ink Master Season 2 finale when Dave made Mark Matthews ' canvas an offer to get his pin - up tattoo fixed by them on a then - future episode. James Vaughn finished second in the `` Merry Ink '' special. Al Fliction competed in the `` New Year 's Ink '' special and was the first artist eliminated. Bili Vegas competed in the `` Hallowink '' special and finished as the runner - up. Léa Vendetta competed in the `` Sirens of Ink '' special and finished second. James Vaughn also appeared as her human canvas in the first elimination tattoo. James Vaughn competed on Season 7. He was the last veteran artist to come to the competition, arriving in the eighth episode and was then eliminated in the penultimate episode. Tommy Helm competed on Season 9 to represent Empire State Studio. He was introduced in the ninth episode and was eliminated in the thirteenth episode. References Jump up ^ `` Tuesday Cable Ratings : ' Tosh. 0 ' on Top + ' The Game ', ' Storage Wars Texas ', ' Southland ' & More ''. TVBytheNumbers. March 7, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2017. Jump up ^ Spike. `` Tattoo Nightmares : Bios - Tommy Helm ''. Spike. Retrieved 4 December 2012. External links Official Website Ink Master on IMDB Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ink_Master_(season_1)&oldid=807441192 '' Categories : 2012 American television seasons Ink Master Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from March 2012 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Français Edit links This page was last edited on 28 October 2017, at 00 : 00. About Wikipedia

Question: who won the first season of ink master
Answer: Shane O'Neill