Spike TV's INK MASTER Names Season 4 Champ

In a live finale that was both fierce and thrilling, Scott Marshall was named winner of Season 4 of "Ink Master." Marshall wins a cash prize of $100,000, a feature article in the premiere tattoo publication Inked and the ultimate bragging rights title of 'Ink Master.' In addition, Season 3 rivals Joshua Hibbard and Jason Clay Dunn returned to the "Ink Master" stage to announce that they will be competing on Season 5 of the series.

Seventeen of the top tattoo artists from around the country battled it out all season in permanent ink, competing in various tattoo challenges that not only tested the artists' technical skills, but also their on-the-spot creativity where they had to create and execute an original tattoo on a 'human canvas.' Each week's challenges focused on a different tattoo technique and style. After every challenge the contestants faced a tough panel made up series host Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) and judges, renowned tattoo artists Chris Nunez ("Miami Ink") and Oliver Peck (Elm Street Tattoo). The masterpieces these artists created will last forever, but so will their mistakes.

The final three contestants: Walter 'Sausage' Frank, tattoo artist at Club Tattoo in Las Vegas, NV, Matti Hixson, a self-employed tattoo artist from West Virginia, VA and Scott Marshall, tattoo artist at Roselle Tattoo Co. in Roselle, IL were each assigned their own master canvas. They were sent back to their home bases to complete a 35-hour tattoo, where they had five, seven-hour sessions with their master canvas to create the best tattoo design of their career.

In the finale Frank, Hixson and Marshall revealed their master canvases to the judges and America. After the judges reviewed the artwork, Matti Hixson was eliminated from the competition. In the end it came down to Walter 'Sausage' Frank and Scott Marshall with the judges in a close call, ultimately naming Marshall the season 4 winner of "Ink Master."

During the show, one lucky fan was given the opportunity to get inked by Season 3 winner, Joey "Hollywood" Hamilton. Using #TATTbyJOEY this season, fans were able to tweet their out-of-the-box tattoo ideas which resulted in Irmak Ayverdi of Bronx, NY getting a tattoo of a four seasons tree LIVE on air during the finale.

The first details regarding Season 5 of "Ink Master," slated to debut Tuesday, September 2 were also revealed during the finale. Series host Dave Navarro announced that next season every artist is coming to the competition with a rival including two of the Most Infamous rivals in "Ink Master" history, season 3 contestants Joshua Hibbard and Jason Clay Dunn.

Leading up to the Season 4 finale of "Ink Master" concludes tonight, the series had averaged 1.9 million viewers, the highest in franchise history. The weekly tattoo-competition series has improved the timeslot in the gender-balanced demographics of Adults 18-49 by a staggering 161% and Adults 18-34 by 215%.

"Ink Master" is produced for SPIKE by Original Media ("Swamp People," "Comic Book Men," "BBQ Pitmasters," "Grilled," "Dual Survival," and "NY Ink") with Charlie Corwin, Daniel Laikind and Andrea Richter serving as Executive Producers. Original Media is a subsidiary of Endemol USA.

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

Spike TV is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks. A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. SPIKE TV's Internet address is www.spike.com.

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