Spike TV Orders Season 7 of INK MASTER; Announces New Spin-Off Series

Coming off its most-watched season to date, Spike TV has picked up a seventh season of "Ink Master," the network's hit, original tattoo-competition series. Season seven will feature 16 one-hour episodes, slated to debut in spring 2016. In addition, the network has announced a spin-off series, "Ink Master: Redemption," which offers disgruntled former human canvases of "Ink Master" a chance to receive a new tattoo that leaves them happier than their last. The announcement was made by Chachi Senior, Senior Vice President, Original Programming, SPIKE TV.

The network will launch the newest installment of "Ink Master" - season six - on Tuesday, June 23 at 10pm ET/PT.

In "Ink Master: Redemption," human canvases from previous "Ink Master" seasons, who left unhappy with their tattoos, return to the shop for a chance at new ink. The spinoff series, featuring six half-hour episodes, goes into production this summer and will debut in September.

Season 5 of "Ink Master," which delivered an average 2.2 million viewers, was the show's highest-rated season among Adults and Women 18-49. In its Tuesday 10-11 PM ET/PT slot, the series ranked in the top five among Persons 18-49, Men 18-49 and Men 18-34, and is currently one of Spike's most gender-balanced programs. "Ink Master" generated 11.8 million total cross platform video views during the season, and the LIVE finale was ranked #1 on cable based on twitter activity.

"With Americans spending more than $1 Billion annually on tattoos, 'Ink Master' has definitely hit a chord with viewers and has continued to grow as one of our most gender-balanced original series," said Senior. "The show's viewers are not only fans of the amazing artwork displayed, they are also invested in the human canvases and what happens when a client leaves unhappy with their tattoo. We have created 'Ink Master: Redemption' to help answer those questions."

Each week, "Ink Master" puts artists through a series of tattoo challenges that are not only designed to test the artists' technical skills, but also their on-the-spot creativity, as they must create and execute an original tattoo by command on a 'human canvas.' Each episode focuses on a different and distinct style of tattooing. The masterpieces these artists create will last a lifetime - but so will their mistakes. The series is hosted by Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction), and the series judges are world-renowned tattoo artists Chris Nunez ("Miami Ink") and Oliver Peck (Elm Street Tattoo).

"Ink Master" is produced for SPIKE by Original Media ("Swamp People," "Comic Book Men," "Dual Survival") with Steven Weinstock, Glenda Hersh and Andrea Richter serving as Executive Producers. Original Media is a subsidiary of Endemol Shine North America.

Sharon Levy is Spike's Executive Vice President, Original Series, Chachi Senior is Senior Vice President of Original Programming for SPIKE and oversees production of "Ink Master" and Tori Socha serves as the network's Executive in Charge of Production.

About Original Media:

Original Media is a subsidiary of Endemol Shine NORTH AMERICA and is run by Emmy award-winning producers Glenda Hersh and Steven Weinstock. Producing hundreds of hours of programming across unscripted and scripted television, digital media and feature film, Original Media has built a strong reputation for cutting-edge content and quality production. Hit series include "Swamp People," "Dual Survival," "Ink Master," "Comic Book Men" and "The Pool Master." Original Media also produced the Academy Award-nominated films "The Squid and the Whale" and "Half Nelson."

Photo courtesy of Ink Master/Facebook