Ink Master season 12 episode 2 video: Ryan Ashley, Joey Hamilton return
It’s true that the bulk of this season is themed around the Battles of the Sexes theme, and there’s probably going to be some cool stuff that goes along with that. This includes the opportunity to see some former contestants back as mentors, and the sneak peek below is really all about that very thing.
In this video, you can see one of the two people coming back on Tuesday’s new episode in Ryan Ashley Malarkey, the season 8 Ink Master champion and to date, the only woman to have ever won this show. Ryan obviously knows a thing or two about how to navigate this competition, and we actually think the judges have a cool perspective on her win in the video. Ryan is one of the first winners to actually start tattooing after the first season of the show premiered, making it so that she has a really unique perspective on some of the various ins and outs of it. She understands in a little bit of a different sense what it’s like to go through the world of competitive art, and we also think that her time on Ink Master: Angels makes her a good evaluator of other work.
What’s especially fun to us about the way the producers are arranging these mentorships is that they’re not doing just what you would expect. Rather than have Ryan mentor the women, she’s actually going to be there to help mentor some of the men. (Hopefully, some of the contestants take host Dave Navarro’s advice and just shut up and listen to what she has to say.) The women, meanwhile, are going to be mentored by none other than season 3 champion Joey Hamilton, an extremely versatile and experienced artist who knows not only how to win this show, but also how to stay successful out in the real world.
How can the contestants best use the mentors?
Come to them with clear ideas and explain how they want to execute them. Clarity is key. Unless Ryan and Joey know and understand fully what the contestants are hoping to accomplish, there’s no real way that they can help them. They can’t do the tattoos for them! Think of them as an extra line of defense before going in front of the judges. They know what Chris Nunez, Oliver Peck, and Navarro like. Blowing them off or wasting the advantage given to them, quite frankly, would just be stupid. We’re worried that at least one of the guys is going to do this based on some of the stuff we’ve seen already entering this episode.
Want more news on Ink Master?
Then be sure to head over here, since that’s where you can read our full review now for Tuesday night’s premiere episode. Meanwhile, share in the comments what former Ink Master contestants you’d like to see back! (Photo: Paramount Network.)
This article was written by Jessica Carter and you can follow her on Twitter here.