After losing Pony Wave in last week’s episode, the teams were divided 7-6. And for this week, the veteran coaches were back to help their teams to victory. This episode is Sausage season 4 and 7 as well as Duffy season 6 who returned to the set. And for their flash challenge, the male and female teams were tasked with engraving designs in all-metal armor, showing consistency throughout the design.
The men’s team was initially judged on their flash challenge, with Oliver Peck complimenting the large open forms of the design. The women’s team, however, approached the challenge with finer and more delicate details, which Chris Nunez appreciated. Ultimately, the judges determined that the men won the flash challenge, which gave them the opportunity to award the skulls picks this week.
For this week’s elimination tattoo challenge, the prompt was cross stitch and the judges would look for cohesive linework to convey the design concept.
First off, Cam was praised for the soft shading in the eyes and Peck complimented the crisp, crisp line work in the cross stitch pattern.
Pon struggled to create a design that read like a cross stitch and was struck by the inconsistency of the leaves.
“A cross stitch volcano, what a waste,†Nunez said of Tito’s design. And although he saw a cross stitch approach in his design, Tito was once again struck by the application of the tattoo.
Leader Fon dropped the ball this week, facing criticism for not taking up the challenge and inconsistent linework that made the tattoo messy.
Jake’s tattoo has been called “totally wild” by Peck, but not in a good way. This heavy hitter has been hit for almost every aspect of the design, from the skull and flame to the cross stitch pattern.
Navarro appreciated the creativity of Creepy Jason’s tattoo, enjoying the mix of styles. However, Nunez noted that the X’s were inconsistent throughout.
In the women’s team, Ashley was told her tattoo was hard to read when it came to cross stitch elements and the face shading was rough.
Alexis had another tough week, with the judges knocking out the different colors and sizes of the cross stitch pattern.
Ash failed to understand the prompt, creating what Nunez called a “fishnet mouth”. He also noted that his tattoo had some tonal issues and the linework was inconsistent.
Although Laura didn’t pull off the cross stitch approach, she was told her tattoo was very clean.
Holly’s tattoo epitomized the spirit of challenge and also won over the judges in the consistency category.
Janelle managed to blend the cross stitch with a realistic image and the judges appreciated her ability to create dimension using X’s in different colors.
“I hate this tattoo, because people are going to want this shit,†Nunez said of Dani’s design, which was simple and solidly applied.
When it came to choosing the best tattoo of the day, it was Cam who scored another victory for the men’s team. This gave the men’s team the opportunity to put an artist up for elimination, with the artist selecting Ash. Ash was joined by Ashley and Jake in the last three and while there were reasons for each of them to return home for their tattoos this week, Ashley was eliminated. That meant Duffy would make it to the live finals to face the Coaches for $ 25,000.
What do you think of this week’s episode? Did Cam’s tattoo deserve to win the tattoo of the day? Did Ashley deserve to be sent home? Let us know your thoughts on this episode in the comments section.
