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, season two contestant Lalo Yunda, season three contestants Yovan "E.S." Barraza and Richard "Made Rich" Parker, season four contestants Aaron "Bubba" Irwin and Josh "King Ruck" Glover, season five contestant Aaron "Aaron Is" Michalowski, season five and season seven contestant James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke, season six contestants Katie McGowan and Matt O'Baugh, season seven contestants Christian Buckingham and Picasso Dular, and season eight contestant Anwon "Boneface" Johnson.
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.
Indicates a Newcomer shop. Indicates a Veteran shop.
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