‘Ink Master’ season 4, episode 8 preview: Kyle Dunbar, Chris Nunez and a fight everyone saw coming
Normally we like to highlight the up coming flash challenge in our “Ink Master” previews, but this week we are doing things a little differently. Why is that? Because it seems that the three ringed circus that has been most of season 4 of “Ink Master” is returning in full force this week and the focus will be less on the tattoos and more on a giant fight that explodes between returning favorite Kyle Dunbar and judge Chris Nunez.
Chris Nunez has made it no secret that he likes to critique Kyle hard because he says that by doing so, he gets to see better work out of Kyle. On the flip side when Kyle does produce those really great tattoos he’s never rewarded for it, it seems to always be a compliment with a “but” attached to it.
Kyle made it to the final 4 last season (and should’ve made it to the final 3 in our opinion over Tatu Baby, but that’s a story for another time), but the relationship between him and Chris didn’t seem as strained as it does this season. Did something happen off camera in between this season and last or does Chris really believe that constantly pushing Kyle down is the only way to get him to rise to the top? This season the judges have their four favorites that will make it to the finale (Halo, Matti, Scott and Sausage) and it seems that no matter what anyone else does, they can’t do enough.
In the new preview clip (which you can see below) Kyle has clearly had enough after the contestants return to the loft and Gentle Jay deliver Chris’ message to him: That he thought Kyle should’ve been in the bottom last week for a tattoo that was honestly not worthy of the bottom. When Kyle arrives at the challenge he calls Chris out on pushing him too much and Chris tells Kyle that “he’s awful” when it comes to tattooing. This is the breaking point for Kyle and a physical fight breaks out.
Will this be the end for Kyle? We are pretty sure that the network has a zero tolerance policy for getting into a physical fight with anyone on the show, so we are fully expecting Kyle to be booted from the competition (although we hope this is not the case since we are big Kyle supporters).
Want more “Ink Master” season 4 scoop (including exit interviews with all of the eliminated contestants) then head over to the link here. We podcast about the show each week so if you missed some of the episodes and want to catch up then you can listen to them at CarterMatt at the link here or download the podcasts over at iTunes.
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Photo: Spike TV
postman02
April 11, 2014 @ 3:13 pm
Just my opinion but the way Chris has been judging I think he should be replaced if he can’t be neutral with all contestants and objective he should not be in a judges seat. If I am not mistaken it is not the first time he has got into word with someone. Someone said on here about if he is still doing tattoos I have often wondered that too. It sounds as though there are artist on the show have as many years or more than he does. Some of the tats that are done are extremely beautiful and some I would take sandpaper to remove from my skin.
Magnum_toke
April 11, 2014 @ 6:26 am
To your point, not only do I seriously doubt that Kyle will be booted for this schoolyard brawl—I think Bob Fosse couldn’t have choreographed this contrived drama better. Gor, blimey! they’ve got some genuinely talented people this time if they “the judges the judges the judges” would just get their heads free and clear and start judging with some consistency. Do these guys Nunez and Peck still tattoo actively in shops somewhere in the U.S.? Are they putting their tattoo guns where their mouths are?
At least the guest judges who are Tat artists themselves are Walking the walk. Seems as though Navarro is becoming a somewhat meaningless front man who offers little in the judging discussion. Also if you’re not TIVO ing or dvr’ing the episodes you may notice that they’ve added these 10-15 second show snippets amid the advertising breaks. Which means less show time. Seriously Yo for a tattooing competition could they be more loathe to show us the actual tattoo for more than a frickin nanosecond? We would’nt want people to get anything like a really good look at the details. Why don’t they put the competitors’ tats up on their website?
Magnum_toke
April 11, 2014 @ 5:52 am
It’s clear in my opinion this show has become all about delivering the advertising. Drama works really well in that regard! They were showing that fight between Nunez and Kyle break out on the previous episode’s Coming Attractions i.e. two weeks ago now. Hugh Jackman was an excuse to show some Xmen clips–like you said Cartermatt did we really need him to come and say everybody’s work was fantastic whether it was or not? The show is increasing in audience share as far as I can tell, been renewed another season but i am with you, it is becoming irritatingly frustrating to watch.
Fill
April 11, 2014 @ 3:04 am
Kyle was pushed too far. I’m not condoning his actions here, but it’s a competition, and people need to be fair in their judgements. That’s the soul of a competition. If someone has a personal vendetta against another competitor and it shows as clearly as it did here, they need to leave.
Continually calling Kyle out and not the top contenders is not what I expect from a fair competition. It’s fine if you want to push him forward, to a point…but when you ignore other flaws from other people, that’s a real problem. And more than that, if you go above and beyond to tell the person that you’re trying to help that they deserve to be up for elimination for a tattoo that clearly isn’t worthy of it, that’s not only disrespectful, but also childish and unfair.
And then when he calls you out, you tell him that he sucks as an artist?
What type of competition are you trying to run? This is okay behavior from a judge? He should have been gone yesterday.
cgretire97sandy
April 17, 2014 @ 3:15 pm
I agree! It’s obvious to anyone that’s been watching all season that Nunez has been biased from the beginning against Kyle. There were times that Kyle had better tattoos than some Nunez praised. IMHO Nunez should be out the door! He is a total ass, and certainly not professional, or unbiased enough to accurately judge a competition. I think this is my last year watching. Nunez has been like this for at least the past 2 seasons, and seems to be getting worse, and Peck is only marginally better, but steadily getting worse too. I still have no idea why Navarro is there.
xvicex
April 11, 2014 @ 2:22 am
If they do not boot Kyle for his actions then the show is a joke. They have booted artists based on half tattoos and even “can’t draw”
…and of course…..
“you don’t have any tattoos”-said to one of the best artists they ever had on the show…Jamie Davis. Not that most are not really good just the excuse to boot him was lame to say the least.
As everyone has said including Kyle..If you can’t handle it then leave..Kyle will hopefully be told after his lil “fight” that he is no longer welcome and be removed from the show. Someone(one of the judges) should have told him to shut his fat moth after his outburst at Ashley..it became clear during that that he’s unstable, immature, and not suited for the competition.
This season honestly sucks…some good artists and tattoos but the drama crap is just stupid.
brad1
April 10, 2014 @ 6:49 pm
i think nunez will be okay with kyle staying and the network will follow his lead. kyle also needs to stop worry about the whole ‘living up to america’s expectations’ nonsense, and stop with conspiracy mindset. he’s obviously not good at handling pressure, so he should stop adding that mountain of nonsense and expectation to himself. he just hasn’t been that good, as proof even the agendaless guest judges have let him have it.
nunez is being a bit of dick, but at least he’s not going out of his way to bounce the guy like oliver did to poor jamie in season 2. so he should buck up and start fight with his tattoo’s not his fists. if he starts doing top to bottom great tattoos and the judges still trash him, they’ll be the ones who look bad not him.
MrsCarter101
April 10, 2014 @ 7:07 pm
I hope that Chris will be okay with Kyle staying (I’d like to see Kyle stay). I know that other reality shows (ie Big Brother etc.) have a zero tolerance policy on stuff like that and if someone even threatens to do something physical, they get the boot. Maybe this fight will be what Kyle needs to move himself to the top level?