Spike TV Orders Season Two of INK MASTER

Spike TV has picked up a second season of 13 episodes of INK MASTER the network's highly-rated original non-scripted series. The announcement was made today by Sharon Levy, Executive Vice President, Original Series, Spike TV.

INK MASTER hosted by music legend and tattoo aficionado Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) and judged by renown tattoo artists Chris Nunez ("Miami Ink") and Oliver Peck (Elm Street Tattoo), is the latest original series that aims at broadening Spike's audience. Through the first four episodes of "Ink Master's" premiere season (launched Tuesday, January 17 at 10 PM, ET/PT), the series is averaging a robust 1.5 million viewers in its Tuesday night timeslot and 5.2 million total viewers per week including repeat telecasts. The show has dramatically broadened the audience in its timeslot, posting a +106% increase with Men 18-49 and +100% with Persons 18-49 compared to last year. The network has found similar success recently with originals "Auction Hunters," "Bar Rescue," and "Flip Men."

The show showcases ten of the nation's top tattoo artists from around the country who battle it out in permanent ink for a $100,000 cash prize, an editorial feature in the preeminent tattoo magazine Inked, and the title of 'Ink Master.' The tension and stakes are high as contestants compete in various tattoo challenges that not only test the artists' technical skills, but also their on-the-spot creativity, where they must create and execute an original tattoo on command. Challenges focus on different tattooing techniques, such as shading, line and proportion, and styles including photorealism, Tribal, American traditional, and pin-up.

Details for production and air dates for season two will be announced shortly. Season two's episode order of 13 is an increase over season one, which consists of eight episodes.

"Ink Master" is produced for Spike by Original Media, with Charlie Corwin, Jay Peterson, and Andrea Richter as Executive Producers of the series. Original Media currently has fifteen television series on air including the hit shows "NY Ink," "LA Ink," "The Rachel Zoe Project," "Swamp People," "Storm Chasers," "Dual Survival" and "Mudcats." Headquartered in New York, Original Media is a subsidiary of Endemol USA.

Sharon Levy is Spike TV's Executive Vice President, Original Series and Chris Rantamaki oversees production of "Ink Master" and is Vice President of Original Programming for Spike TV.

About Spike TV:

Spike TV is available in 99.8 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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