‘Ink Master: Rivals’ season 5, episode 15 review: Are Cleen Rock One, Jason Clay Dunn in finale?
We are down to the final four contestants on “Ink Master: Rivals”: Mark Longenecker, Erik Siuda, Cleen Rock One and Jason Clay Dunn. With only one episode left before the finale we had hoped that there would be a little more tension when it comes to who is going to win, but much like season 4 where Scott Marshall was the clear winner from the beginning, we will be shocked if anyone other then Cleen Rock One goes home with the title.
1st Elimination tattoo: With this being the last episode of “Ink Master” before the finale next week there is no flash challenge tonight. Instead the remaining four artists are being tested on all of their skills. Their are two tables with four skulls on each: One set is a subject matter and the other is a style choice. they randomly chose one of each and are assigned a canvas from the judges.
Judging: Even though the skull picks were random, everyone got something they are familiar with. The judges loved Cleen Rock One’s New school tiger (which looked more like American traditional to us, but what do we know) and he won tattoo of the day and secured himself a spot in the finale. As for Jason, Mark and Erik, they will be tattooing again and two will move forward and one will go home.
2nd elimination tattoo: Three skulls sit on the table and each remaining artist gets to pick one – the skull with the “x” on the bottom gets to choose the subject matter and Jason gets the honor. Everyone thinks he will pick something in the Japanese style, but with Erik in the competition with him he decided to pick birds as the subject matter.
Judging: All of the birds were pretty solid, but they chose Erik as the tattoo of the day leaving Jason and Mark fighting for a spot in the finale. As we predicted in our rankings, Mark ended up going home and Jason made it to finale night.
The twist of the season is that the other remaining artists got to chose the style of the master piece for the one artist. Jason was assigned new school, Erik and Cleen both got color realism. We weren’t crazy about this twist because we like the idea of the finale master canvas being the last time the artists get to show off their absolute best work, not what the other two rivals think is their weakness.
Who is in the finale: We’ll be seeing Cleen Rock One, Erik and Jason going head to head in the finale. We also expect to have some of the eliminated artists returning so be ready for some drama there. Episode grade: A –
If you are looking for more news on “Ink Master: Rivals” then head over to the link here where you can check out previews, reviews, interviews with eliminated artists (Caroline Evans, Elton “LT” Duarte, Jayvo Scott, Tim Lees, Ryan Eternal, Robbie Ripoll, Ty’Esha Reels, Angel Bauta, Julia Carlson, Emily Elegado, Joshua Hibbard, Don Peddicord, Aaron Is, and Cris Element) and podcasts all about the show (or head here if you want to download our podcasts from iTunes).
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