‘Ink Master’ season 7, episode 7 preview: Christian Buckingham goes after Cleen Rock One

If there is one prevailing strategy that we’ve seen from Christian Buckingham on “Ink Master” so far this season, it is him trying to antagonize many of the veteran artists in the competition. He did it often with St. Marq, and on next week’s new episode he could set his sights on Cleen Rock One … and the judges?

In the preview that aired tonight, we saw Christian take the judges somewhat to task for giving Cleen what he believed to be a “pass” on some of his work, which seemed to take both them and Cleen himself aback. We like what Christian is bringing to the table in terms of drama this season so far, but we gotta say that in this instance, we’re really not altogether sure precisely what he’s talking about here. Cleen hasn’t been great on every tattoo this season, but he has been in danger of going home. We really cannot say that we egregiously disagree with any of the eliminations so far on a huge level, and losing St. Marq proves that the judges aren’t just keeping the veterans around.

As a matter of fact, we actually could see the likes of Christian, Anthony, and Megan Jean all making it close to the finale, though we’re a little worried about the latter given that she didn’t show a ton of drive to stay in it tonight. They’re all tight, and we’ve seen them get a lot of screen time in terms of their alliance and whatnot.

One thing that could be interesting to see for people like Jime or Sarah is if they have a little bit of rust that they have to shake off; sure, they tattoo often, but it may have been some time since they were asked to do some of the styles that they’re being asked to do in this competition.

If you want to see some other “Ink Master” news, including a review for Tuesday night’s episode, head over to the link here right now! Also, sign up over here to get some other TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Spike.)