‘Ink Master’ exit interview: Melissa Monroe on tattoos, elimination and more

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This has been a crazy season of “Ink Master” with a lot of great tattoo artists, but the one that really stood out to us was Melissa Monroe. She has only been tattooing a few years, but in that time she learned to tattoo in just about every style and adapt to any situation. She was easily a favorite of ours all season, so it was heartbreaking to see her go home last week on a Japanese style snake tattoo that was better then some of the others in the bottom.

We had a chance to chat with Melissa (via email) about her time on the show, going head to head with Gentle Jay as Scott and Matti tried to help and her thoughts on the judges critiques this season.

CarterMatt – The Japanese snake you tattooed was more traditional then some of the others, were you surprised that this tattoo sent you home?

Melissa Monroe – I really liked the Japanese snake I tattooed, and thought it should have kept me in the competition, however, I wasn’t surprised to be sent home, as I assumed the judges would prefer to keep the other artists who had excelled more consistently through the entire season.

At the beginning of the show Ashley Bennett made a sweeping statement that “all women cry”, what did you think of being lumped into that group?

I don’t think it was fair to group all women into that statement. Some women are more emotional than others, and clearly Ashley falls into that category. I didn’t cry all season, and last I checked I’m just as much a woman as Ashley.

In the head to head challenge against Gentle Jay you had Matti and Scott helping you, do you feel that it hurt you?

It actually made me more nervous having Scott and Matti over my shoulder while tattooing, but considering the gesture of competitors (and more experienced tattooers) wanting to help and offer advice, I certainly wasn’t going to turn them away. Other artists offered suggestions to Jay as well, but they were met with attitude, and I suppose they preferred my polite reactions.
From a viewers perspective the judges critiques have been all over the place this season, did you feel that they were helpful?
The judges opinions are those of 3 people, so I never actually took them too seriously.
I honestly took the opinions of my fellow competitors to heart more than those of the judges. But what really mattered to me were the opinions of the canvases that received the tattoo, if they were happy I considered it a win.

Now that you are no longer in the competition, who are you rooting for to become Ink Master?

Halo or Sausage.

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We want to thank Melissa for taking the time to chat with us and we will definitely miss her being on the show.

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