Ink Master season 11 featured two of the show’s veterans going head-to-head, but which contestants took part and who was crowned the winner? The eleventh season of Ink Master aired in late 2018 on the Paramount Network and saw Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro return as host and judge alongside fellow judges Oliver Peck (of Miami Ink fame) and Chris Núñez. As with past seasons of the show, season 11 saw talented tattoo artists from all corners of the U.S. come together to compete in a series of grueling tattoo-offs to be crowned Ink Master and win a cash prize.
Season 11 of Ink Master featured a twist in that contestants were divided into two teams headed by coaches Christian Buckingham and James Steinke - aka Cleen Rock One - who had both previously competed against each other in past seasons. Dubbed Ink Master: Grudge Match, the season 11 competition was essentially two-sided, with 18 contestants competing for a $100,000 prize and Cleen Rock One and Christian battling it out in a series of ‘grudge matches’ to win their own cash prize.
Here are all the contestants who took part in Ink Master season 11 broken down into their two teams, followed by the grudge match winner and overall winner.
Team Cleen:
Tiara Gordon
Kyle Mackenzie
Tony Medellin
Jamie Lee Parker
Austin Rose
Stacy Smith
Jimmy Snaz
Adam Turk
Tiffer Wright
Team Christian:
Amanda Boone
Jess Cavazos
Angel Rose
Kasey Gonzalez
Oba Jackson
Teej Poole
JP Roldan
Chris Shockley
Tim Stafford
Grudge Match Winner: Cleen Rock One
Winner: Tony Medellin
After 15 weeks of challenges testing their artistic and tattooing skills, the competition was whittled down to three contestants – Teej Poole of Team Christian and Tiffer Wright and Tony Medellin of Team Cleen. The final saw the remaining three first compete in a live six-hour tag team tattoo alongside their coaches, which saw Wright knocked out of the competition. That was followed by a 35-hour master canvas that saw Tony Medellin, who previously appeared in the spinoff Ink Master: Angels, scoop the title of Ink Master and $100,000.
Meanwhile, the coaches battled it out in a final grudge match with their own 35-hour tattoos. Christian produced a new school-style leg tattoo featuring a gothic pinup girl while Cleen did a vivid cobra and skull design that spanned his client’s chest and thigh. It was Cleen Rock One’s design that won over the judges and $100,000 – a befitting victory considering Ink Master season 11 was his fourth appearance on the show.
The format of season 11 proved popular enough to spawn another spinoff – Ink Master: Grudge Match – which is currently airing its first season and features Cleen Rock One as a judge alongside fellow previous Ink Master contestants Ryan Ashley Malarkey and DJ Tambe.