Ink Master season 9 episode 10 preview: Oliver Peck returns — and so does Cleen Rock One

Let’s begin this Ink Master season 9 episode 10 preview piece with some good news: Oliver Peck is coming back! Following his brief absence due to a medical emergency this week, the preview features him back at the judges table and doing what he does so well on the show. No need to worry about Oliver, just sit back and enjoy everything that’s coming — after all, it does look as though you’re going to get quite a bit of good stuff!

First things first, we have to point out the big news: The return of Cleen Rock One. He and fellow former contestant Aaron Is are coming from Golden Skull Tattoo in Las Vegas, Cleen’s shop that sounds very much like an Ink Master reference in its own right. There’s been serious anticipation surrounding his arrival all season, and he and Aaron are the final artists to turn up. We feel kind of bad that Aaron is almost the forgotten man in this situation, but Cleen is the only two-time contestant returning for a third go-around this season. Also, he’s almost won the show twice.

So will Cleen get back into a rhythm quickly? He better hope that he can, given that this competition is looking like it’s going to be intense from here on out. Every shop that’s left has shown that they’re more than capable of going far; while Classic Trilogy Tattoo struggled early on, they’re even showing as of late that they have what it takes to survive. We think that Old Town Ink probably remain our favorite in terms of likely winners — they’ve been consistently solid, and in the preview for the next episode, it looks like they’re getting an offer to team up with some of the newbies.

Should DJ and Bubba take them up on that? It’s a smart idea in the sense that they probably all want to represent being in the competition for the entirety of the season. We imagine that if you were in the game from the start, it’s probably infuriating that there are some people coming in now who could win without being around for some of the early challenges. Banding together and helping each other out is probably one of the only ways to stay alive. These final three shops to enter this season are no joke — these people are probably going to give Cleen all of the hype and the attention, but they really shouldn’t sleep on Black Cobra. Matt and Katie have been super-strong since they entered the show and have a longer history of working together. They’re the most intimidating of the remaining teams, for our money, just because they know each other the best as a team.

Update

We’ve just seen a sneak peek for Tuesday’s episode, one in which Dave Navarro states that Oliver is not there for the coming episode — even though he was in the preview at the end of episode 9. At this point, we’d just say to watch and find out, but he should be fine either way.

What do you think is going to happen on Ink Master season 9 next week, and who do you think will win? Be sure to share in the comments below!

Meanwhile, head over here in the event you do want to get some more news when it comes to the show, including our full review for what happened tonight. (Photo: Spike.)