We are well into another season of Ink Master on Spike TV, and as usual I find myself cursing and screaming at the television. Why? Well, there many reasons. While I do appreciate my line of work being featured on TV every week, I just cant agree with a lot of the decisions made by the judges on that show. Every season, I know an artist or two on the show, which also helps as I get a good laugh or two out of each show, but my problem is that this show is not a 'real' competition.
Not real you say? Let me explain. I suppose it is a real competition, in a sense that they are all competing for a prize, and there can only be one winner. My problem is that the deck seems to be stacked, so to say. The competition is not as intense as it should be, mostly because they are putting people on this show that have no business being there. I'm sorry, but someone with 2 years of experience has no business on a show with the word "Master" in its title. Are we to believe that some shmuck with 2 years of experience is the best they could find? Give me a break.
It seems to me that what we have here is a case of good TV vs real talent. Its like American Idol. We all love the first few episodes where they show all of the terrible singers and such. We love to watch the judges rip them to shreds. It just makes for good TV. I think that's what we have here. Its my personal belief that they are purposely putting people on that show with the intent to fail, while at the same time hand picking 4 or 5 good artists that they will push all the way to the end. I've seen them on more than one occasion give certain artists a "pass" on something that they crucified someone else for the week prior. Last week was a perfect example. We had an artist who didn't even do the challenge get a pass because, as Chris Nunez said (I'm not quoting here) 'I'm not going to send a good tattooer home based on him missing this challenge.' What? What the hell is the point of the challenges? So, if you don't do the challenge, but your a 'good tattooer' then you get a pass? That's it! My frustration is then magnified by the fact that the only judge making sense is the only one that is not a tattoo artist. It's just crazy.
So, that's about where I'm at. I would love to see a competition stacked with killer artists. Believe me, there are plenty of them out there. It's unfortunate really. I know a few artists the got passed over by the show because their personality wasn't what they were looking for, even though their work is much better than most of the crap I see on this show.
Well, those are my thoughts. What do you guys think, and are you watching the show? Is it purely entertainment, or is it a serious tattoo show?