Ink Master season 10 premiere date confirmed; DJ Tambe returning

The Ink Master season 10 premiere date is now official over at Spike / The Paramount Network, and you’re not going to have to wait long to see it.

The latest batch of episodes, (also titled Ink Master: Return of the Masters) are going to premiere starting on Tuesday, January 4 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time. It was announced previously that Steve Tefft and Anthony Michaels, (winners of past seasons) were going to return. Now, you can add to that last season’s co-champion DJ Tambe. The synopsis CarterMatt has for you below does a good job of explaining what the format of this season is going to be like:

This new season starts off with 24 potential contestants who are put through a series of intense tattoo-style challenges, after which Tefft, Michaels and Tambe will select their top six artists to compete as part of their teams. Throughout the competition, the artists will be tested on their technical skills along with their on-the-spot creativity, as they must conceive and execute original tattoos on “human canvases.” Each episode will focus on a different and distinct style of tattooing and, as always, while the artists’ masterpieces will last a lifetime, so will their mistakes.

There are some clear similarities here between this season and Ink Master: Peck vs. Nunez, which also utilized some sort of coaches’ twist. It’s certainly not something that the show needs since its rather great on its own, but we’ll see how this plays out and just how competitive some of these coaches are with the contestants on their team.

The people that we feel the sorriest for at present are whoever the Ink Master: Angels winners are since they are going to be competing on a season with a pretty big twist. They were granted a golden ticket to be on season 10, but based on this synopsis it sounds like they aren’t guaranteed a spot beyond the premiere. Can’t these people be given immunity or something since they’ve already been put through so much?

Just in case you are wondering, Chris Nunez and Oliver Peck are returning as judges alongside host Dave Navarro. Spike is being re-branded as The Paramount Network in the new year, which is why we placed both networks earlier on in this article. Be aware of the change so you don’t miss an episode.

You can also check out the first Ink Master season 10 teaser below, and we do think that you’re going to enjoy it — it has a very Japanese anime vibe to it and is every bit as epic as you would want it to be.

What do you think about the Ink Master season 10 premiere? Be sure to share some of your thoughts in the comments!

Meanwhile, be sure to click here to see some of our coverage of Ink Master: Angels, which is in the process of airing some of its final episodes of the season. Also, be sure to join our official CarterMatt Facebook page to stay up to date with all of our Ink Master season 10 coverage. We will be back this season to bring you reviews, previews and interviews with the artists. (Photo: Spike.)