# Ink Master season 7

Ink Master: Revenge is the seventh season of the tattoo reality competition Ink Master that aired on Spike on March 1 and concluded on May 24, 2016 with a total of 13 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 and the title of Ink Master.
The premise of this season was featuring eight contestants competing against eight returning veterans in an elimination-style competition.
This season saw the return of eight veterans; season one contestant James Vaughn, who originally finished the competition in 3rd place, season two contestants Sarah Miller and Jesse Smith, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up and in 5th place respectively, season three contestant Jime Litwalk, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, season four contestants Walter "Sausage" Frank and Matti Hixson, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up and in 3rd place respectively, season five contestant James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, and season six contestant Mark S. "St. MarQ" Agee, who originally finished the competition in 12th place.
The winner of the seventh season of Ink Master was Anthony Michaels, with James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke 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.

### 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.

## Contestants

Names, experience, and cities stated are at time of filming.
| Contestant Name | Years of experience | Hometown | Outcome |
| Anthony Michaels | 5 | Tucson, Arizona | Winner |
| James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke | 20 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Runner-up |
| Christian Buckingham | 13 | Henderson, Nevada | 3rd place |
| James Vaughn | 26 | Asheboro, North Carolina | 4th place |
| Matti Hixson | 11 | Virginia Beach, Virginia | 5th place |
| Jesse Smith | 18 | Richmond, Virginia | 6th place |
| Walter "Sausage" Frank | 14 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 7th place |
| Jime Litwalk | 22 | Orlando, Florida | 8th place |
| Megan Jean Morris | 7 | Wallingford, Connecticut | 9th place |
| Sarah Miller | 10 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 10th place |
| Alex Rockoff | 9 | West Palm Beach, Florida | 11th place |
| Mark S. "St. MarQ" Agee | 26 | West Lafayette, Indiana | 12th place |
| Picasso Dular | 16 | Los Angeles, California | 13th place |
| Ashley Velazquez | 5 | New Haven, Connecticut | 14th place |
| Cris Gherman | 15 | New York, New York | 15th place |
| Corey Davis | 10 | Atlanta, Georgia | 16th place |

### Returning veterans

| Contestants | Original Season | Original Placement |
| Mark S. "St. MarQ" Agee | Season 6 | 12th place |
| Walter "Sausage" Frank | Season 4 | Runner-up |
| Matti Hixson | Season 4 | 3rd place |
| Jime Litwalk | Season 3 | Runner-up |
| Sarah Miller | Season 2 | Runner-up |
| Jesse Smith | Season 2 | 5th place |
| James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke | Season 5 | Runner-up |
| James Vaughn | Season 1 | 3rd place |

## Contestant progress

Indicates the contestant was a Newcomer.  Indicates the contestant was a Veteran.
| Contestant | Contestant | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode | Episode |
| Contestant | Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| | Anthony Michaels | HIGH | TOP3 | WIN | BTM4 | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | TOP3 | HIGH | BTM2 | WIN | ADV | Winner |
| | Cleen Rock One | | WIN | BTM3 | WIN | TOP2 | BTM4 | BTM3 | WIN | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | ADV | Runner-up |
| | Christian Buckingham | TOP2 | TOP3 | SAFE | HIGH | SAFE | LOW | WIN | SAFE | TOP3 | SAFE | BTM3 | ADV | Eliminated |
| | James Vaughn | | | | | | | | TOP3 | WIN | SAFE | TOP2 | ELIM | Guest |
| | Matti Hixson | | | | SAFE | LOW | SAFE | SAFE | BTM4 | SAFE | SAFE | ELIM | | Guest |
| | Jesse Smith | | | | | | | TOP3 | SAFE | TOP3 | ELIM | | | Guest |
| | Sausage | | | TOP4 | SAFE | WIN | SAFE | TOP3 | BTM4 | ELIM | | | | Guest |
| | Jime Litwalk | | | | | SAFE | BTM4 | BTM3 | BTM4 | ELIM | | | | Guest |
| | Megan Jean Morris | WIN | SAFE | LOW | BTM4 | BTM3 | WIN | SAFE | ELIM | | | | | Guest |
| | Sarah Miller | | | | | | BTM4 | ELIM | | | | | | Guest |
| | Alex Rockoff | SAFE | BTM3 | TOP4 | BTM4 | BTM3 | ELIM | | | | | | | Guest |
| | St. MarQ | BTM3 | HIGH | TOP4 | LOW | ELIM | | | | | | | | Guest |
| | Picasso Dular | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | ELIM | | | | | | | | | Guest |
| | Ashley Velazquez | BTM3 | BTM3 | ELIM | | | | | | | | | | Guest |
| | Cris Gherman | SAFE | ELIM | | | | | | | | | | | Guest |
| | Corey Davis | ELIM | | | | | | | | | | | | Guest |
* ↑ Cleen and Matti were originally deemed as safe, but Jime and Sausage challenged them in the Face-Off challenge to determine who would stay in the competition.
* ↑ Anthony defeated Jesse in the Face-Off challenge to determine who would stay in the competition.
* ↑ Anthony and Christian won their Head-to-Head Face-Off challenge against Cleen and James to determine who would advance to the finale, and then Cleen won his Face-Off challenge against James.
    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 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

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
| 80 | 1 | "Initiation" | March 1, 2016 (2016-03-01) | 3.35 |
| Skill of the Week: Fundamentals The Flash Challenge: Eight rookie artists squared off in a three-part challenge. They were given four hours to first do a full-body sketch of a nude model, assemble both a liner and shader machine from Seth Cifferi, and then tattoo the drawing they did earlier with the machines they built on a dead pig. Winner: Christian Buckingham Returning Veteran: St. MarQ Elimination Tattoo: The rookies were surprised to learn from the judges that they will be faced with a new returning artist from a previous Ink Master season each week, and that the returning artist each week is given the opportunity to choose the elimination tattoo. St. MarQ challenges the artists to tattoo one of the seven deadly sins in black and grey, using only shading needles. Top Artists: Megan Jean Morris and Christian Buckingham Best Tattoo of the Day: Megan Jean Morris Bottom: Corey Davis, Ashley Velazquez and St. MarQ Eliminated: Corey Davis |||||
| 81 | 2 | "One Man's Trash" | March 8, 2016 (2016-03-08) | 3.17 |
| Skill of the Week: Contrast Flash Challenge: The artists work in teams of two to make a sculpture out of recyclable trash. Then, they must use a beamlight on their sculpture to create a shadow that has contrast. Winner: Ashley Velazquez & Alex Rockoff Returning Veteran: Cleen Rock One Elimination Tattoo: The artists take Cleen's style by tattooing neo-traditional hot rods and choppers. Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One Human Canvas Jury: Cris Gherman, Alex Rockoff and Ashley Velazquez Eliminated: Cris Gherman |||||
| 82 | 3 | "Salt in the Wound" | March 16, 2016 (2016-03-16) | 2.89 |
| Skill of the Week: Creativity Flash Challenge: Working in teams of two, the artists use salt to create their masterpiece. Winner: Christian Buckingham & Megan Jean Morris Returning Veteran: Sausage Elimination Tattoo: The artists must use the canvas's likeness in a comic book themed tattoo. Top Artists: Sausage and Anthony Michaels Best Tattoo of the Day: Anthony Michaels Bottom: Cleen Rock One, Picasso Dular and Ashley Velazquez Eliminated: Ashley Velazquez |||||
| 83 | 4 | "The Devil's in the Details" | March 22, 2016 (2016-03-22) | 3.01 |
| Skill of the Week: Detail Flash Challenge: Tattooing a fingerprint of the canvas's loved one, scanned by Adrian Gardner. Winner: Cleen Rock One Returning Veteran: Matti Hixson Elimination Tattoo: The artists must tattoo a Venetian mask, focusing on detail. Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One Bottom: Picasso Dular, Alex Rockoff, Anthony Michaels and Megan Jean Morris Eliminated: Picasso Dular |||||
| 84 | 5 | "New School, Old Artist" | March 29, 2016 (2016-03-29) | 2.66 |
| Skill of the Week: Color Theory Flash Challenge: The artists head to Coney Island Freak Show where they must work in teams of two to airbrush a pair of contortionists and create a mind blowing illusion. Winner: Megan Jean Morris & Sausage Returning Veteran: Jime Litwalk Elimination Tattoo: The artists tackle Jime's specialty by tattooing a New School dinosaur. Top Artists: Sausage and Cleen Rock One Best Tattoo of the Day: Sausage Bottom: Megan Jean Morris, Alex Rockoff and St. MarQ Eliminated: St. MarQ |||||
| 85 | 6 | "Under Pressure" | April 5, 2016 (2016-04-05) | 2.59 |
| Skill of the Week: Composition Flash Challenge: A pair of artists create a dynamic composition on a dirty semi truck using a power washer. Winner: Anthony Michaels & Matti Hixson Returning Veteran: Sarah Miller Elimination Tattoo: An interesting elimination tattoo has the artists tattooing a surrealistic female but Sarah's strategy backfired. Best Tattoo of the Day: Megan Jean Morris Bottom: Jime Litwalk, Sarah Miller, Alex Rockoff and Cleen Rock One Eliminated: Alex Rockoff |||||
| 86 | 7 | "Knuckle Sandwich" | April 12, 2016 (2016-04-12) | 2.82 |
| Skill of the Week: Precision Flash Challenge: The artists design custom lettering on the knuckles, without using references. Winner: Cleen Rock One Returning Veteran: Jesse Smith Elimination Tattoo: The remaining artists must be on their A game when they have to tattoo a black & grey portrait of a political figure. Jesse redeemed himself from his elimination in Season 2. Top Artists: Sausage and Christian Buckingham Best Tattoo of the Day: Christian Buckingham Bottom: Cleen Rock One, Jime Litwalk and Sarah Miller Eliminated: Sarah Miller |||||
| 87 | 8 | "Breathing Fire" | April 19, 2016 (2016-04-19) | 3.00 |
| Skill of the Week: Legibility Flash Challenge: The artists work in teams of two to make a large-scale legible design out of pushpins. Winner: Cleen Rock One & Christian Buckingham Returning Veteran: James Vaughn Elimination Tattoo: The artists aim to create a Japanese dragon with water. Top Artists: James Vaughn, Cleen Rock One and Anthony Michaels Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One Bottom: Jime Litwalk, Sausage, Matti Hixon and Megan Jean Morris Eliminated: Megan Jean Morris |||||
| 88 | 9 | "Sink or Soar" | April 26, 2016 (2016-04-26) | 3.04 |
| Skill of the Week: Texture Elimination Tattoo: The artists work in teams of two to tattoo a full set of wings on the canvas's back at the same time, with one artist working on a "good" wing and the other tattooing an "evil" wing. Top Artists: James Vaughn and Christian Buckingham Best Tattoo of the Day: James Vaughn Bottom: Jime Litwalk and Sausage Face Off Tattoo: Jime and Sausage were given one last chance to redeem themselves as Dave asked them each to pick an artist to face for a head-to-head elimination tattoo. The chosen artist picked the style and subject for their face-off. Sausage picked Matti and Jime picked Cleen. Eliminated: Jime Litwalk and Sausage |||||
| 89 | 10 | "Shipwrecked" | May 3, 2016 (2016-05-03) | 2.78 |
| Skill of the Week: Adaptability Elimination Tattoo: The artists work in teams of three to tattoo American traditional clipper ship with one member from each team working on line work, shading or color. The teams must then decide on the weakest member who will then be put up for elimination. Face-Off Tattoo: Anthony and Jesse have six hours to adaptability to tattoo their own subject and style from scratch without any references. Eliminated: Jesse Smith |||||
| 90 | 11 | "Head in the Game" | May 10, 2016 (2016-05-10) | 2.81 |
| Skill of the Week: Ingenuity Flash Challenge: The final five created a design on the canvas's foreheads. Winner: James Vaughn Elimination Tattoo: The artists must use ingenuity to cover up the canvas' despised tattoo. Top Artists: Anthony Michaels and James Vaughn Best Tattoo of the Day: Anthony Michaels Bottom: Cleen Rock One, Matti Hixson and Christian Buckingham Eliminated: Matti Hixson |||||
| 91 | 12 | "Turning the Tables" | May 17, 2016 (2016-05-17) | 3.30 |
| Elimination Tattoo: The rookies finally get their revenge by picking the veteran artist they want to face in addition to picking the style and subject. Anthony picked Cleen in the battle to tattoo a realistic black and grey woman they drew while Christian and James duke it out in the realistic full bodied black and grey wolf tattoo. Their strategy gave them a huge advantage to the live finale. Face-Off Tattoo: Cleen and James had one last chance to earn a spot in the finale with them calling their own shots this time. While James picked a Japanese fu dog on a peony, Cleen settled in on New School with a snake wrapping a skull on top of a dagger. Eliminated: James Vaughn Finale Tattoo - Part 1: The final three artists are tasked to do 48 hours of tattooing where they have to tattoo each canvas for 24 hours. In the first part, the judges chose the style for each artist they struggled tattooing during the competition. They then must tattoo their assigned style to the chest with Anthony doing Japanese full color, Christian doing American Traditional and Cleen working on fine line black and grey. Finale Tattoo - Part 2: Dave gave the artists good news where they have to tattoo a sleeve in the style of their choice. The judges and the viewers will choose which one artist to advance to the final two along with the second artist chosen by the jury of eliminated artists while the artist who didn't advance to the final will join the jury. |||||
| 92 | 13 | "Revenge Live" | May 24, 2016 (2016-05-24) | 3.57 |
| Each artist did their tattoos in their hometown before returning to New York to present their final work. The winner of the chest piece tattoo that was voted by the fans will receive $20,000 from Gildan USA. Tattoo Rematch: Matti and Sausage square off with the winner, who was chosen by the loudest reaction from the audience, tattooing their winning design on the artist who loses this rematch. Winner: Sausage Tattoo: A sausage with the sentence "#TeamSausage" inside. Advanced: Anthony Michaels Jury's Choice: Cleen Rock One Winner: Anthony Michaels |||||