Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

Host Pete Wentz welcomes twelve contestants who will compete on Best Ink 2 for a $100,000 grand prize, and the cover and feature spread in Tattoo Magazine. Each week, one artist will win, and one artist will go home. So who are these lucky dozen needle-wielding artists? There’s Brittany, Dollarz, Kelly, Melvin, Teresa, DJ, Derek, Alli, Ralph, Jerod, Tylor, and Carolyn, and they all converge on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles to size each other up.

Before getting to the tattoo shop, the contestants must first compete in a Flash Challenge that will test their artistic abilities outside of tattooing. This week, the contestants must spray paint a self-portrait on a billboard, dangling six stories off of the ground. Legendary street artist Justin Bua will decide who gets the win.

Brittney, Derek Melvin and Alli are up first and have fifteen minutes to spray their portraits. Melvin slips out of his chair, and in the end there are four blobs that mildly resemble faces. Thankfully, the portraits look a lot better from the ground. Next, Teresa paints her Mohawk, Tylor writes his name, Jerod cleverly sprays an umbrella to shield his portrait from the drips coming from Brittney’s design, and Kelly makes a mess. DJ, Ralph, Carolyn, and Dollarz are last, and Ralph is afraid of heights, Dollarz has no spray controlz, Carolyn is too ambitious with the short amount of time, and DJ is a spray paint pro with an inflated ego.

Justin Bua decides that Tylor, Kelly and Alli are disappointing because…they didn’t lay the background down? I don’t even know what that means. Teresa and Melvin are in the top two, which totally pisses off DJ. And the win goes to Melvin. He will have his first choice in skins for the ink challenge and wins a thousand dollars.

Let’s go the tattoo shop! It’s huge, and…colorful. The three judges in this year’s challenge are Joe Capobianco from Season One (I’m sensing he’s not so nice?), Sabina Kelley, also from Season One, and Hannah Aitcheson from that other tattoo show. No, the other other one.

The Ink Challenge involves working with skins who want to tell the story of their trying circumstances through tattoo art. During the consultations, the skins start yammering about random stuff that makes no sense to anyone but themselves. Tree branches, a “Thai creature,” a corset, a lighthouse, a bearded lady, an owl clock chest tattoo….doesn’t anybody get drunk in Cancun and wake up with an ankle rose anymore?

The contestants have four hours to complete their tattoos. I don’t know. Are tattoos really something that should be rushed? Melvin’s skin, Jeremy, is in excruciating pain as he gets a very misguided full chest tattoo involving an owl. I’m also a little worried about Kelly, whose skin is micromanaging the tattoo which, to be honest, looks like crap. But still, shut up and let the artist permanently ink this wreck on your torso, lady! During one of the skin’s many, many breaks, she decides that she doesn’t like the tattoo, and it gets a little (a lot!) tense, with a final declaration of “This challenge is about me!” that culminates in the skin walking out halfway through the tattoo. Wow. So…what happens when your canvas leaves before judging? Huh.

At the elimination judging, Alli has good line work, Brittney’s tree is either “flattering” or “flat,” Dollarz scissorz banner looks cheap, Jerod’s lighthouse is forgettable, Ralph’s street sign is amateur hour, Tylor’s colorific skills are bizarre, Melvin’s owl clock is too big, DJ’s corset kicks ass, Carolyn’s gore face is disappointing and haphazard, Teresa’s bearded lady octopus face is “killer,” Derek’s wolf is snarly, but could have used some color, and Kelly’s half-finished tattoo is horrendous and I would feel badly for the skin if she wasn’t such a b*tch.

Teresa, DJ, and Derek are the top three, and the win goes to DJ, so he has immunity for next week’s challenge. The top three artists will now determine who is in the bottom three. Then, the judges will decide who goes home.

The three artists choose Kelley because her figure was missing a foot, Carolyn because her design was blech, and Melvin because he made a stupid tattoo. The judges give Kelley and Melvin a second chance, and send Caroline home for having the best tattoo to work with, and totally dropping the ball on execution.