Ink Master season 12 episode 15: Who was eliminated before finale?
For all of the remaining competitors, there was nothing that they wanted more than being able to find a way into that finale. They’d worked so hard for it and, beyond that, they also know what sort of opportunity that last episode presented. It marked a chance to do an extensive back piece, something that shows off your work as an artist more so than almost anything else can. Yet, in order to get there the remaining artists had to tackle a number of different challenges … including a tattoo marathon and trying to match the greatness of another competitor from during the season.
Let’s just say that not all of the tasks here ended up going according to plan. Take, for example, the assorted flaws that came out via the tattoo marathon. What we learned, at the end of the day here, was that nobody was strong enough to get an easy ticket to the next round. With that, everyone was stuck having to recreate another artist’s top tattoo … and that’s where things got all the more difficult. Nobody created a tattoo that was bad out of the final four, but Dani Ryan and Laura Marie were handed the first two tickets to the finale. This means that we have a 66% change that Ink Master season 12 will have its second-ever female winner — for now, we think that Laura has a great chance of it!
Unfortunately, for Jake Ross, his version of Dani’s witch tattoo was not enough for him to get a spot in the finale. He did a nice tattoo, but a few little errors called out by the judges were enough to seal his fate … or at least part of it. We would also go ahead and blame a few other things for it, including the fact that Creepy Jason had a more exciting run this season and won more accolades over the course of it. Jason had higher highs, and with his creativity, he does pose an interesting challenge for both Laura and Dani entering the final round. (We’ll talk more about the finale in our preview piece.)
CarterMatt Verdict
Losing Jake here is not some jaw-dropping surprise — you probably thought weeks ago that he was the person leaving the competition and now, it’s become 100% official. He definitely did manage to pull off some great work as of late, and really improved his stock from a rather easy-to-predict boot to a genuine contender and someone who showed a lot of versatility and style. He’s a little low-key when compared to the other artists, but he did more than prove himself in the end.
Now, we have an exciting finale on the horizon featuring three artists who are going to bring it — and when it comes to styles and specialties alone, we could be in line for one of the most creative ones we’ve had a chance to see.
What do you think about what we saw on Ink Master this week?
Are you bummed that Jake was eliminated so close to the finale? Be sure to share now in the comments.
This review was written by Jessica Carter. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.