Plot Synopsis

Using re-enactments and first-person interviews, TATTOO NIGHTMARES reveals people's often-hilarious horror stories behind their awful tattoos, and then chronicles the best tattoo artists in the business as they fix and cover someone else's mistakes. Each 30-minute episode features three different tattoo artists: Big Gus, who was born and raised in the streets of Los Angeles and began tattooing at the age of 14 when gang members noticed and admired his talents, asking him to ink their members; Tommy Helm, a finalist in Season 1 of INK MASTERS, who graduated from the toy design program at FIT and has been tattooing for over 18 years -- now with a two-year wait list at his studio, Empire State Tattoo; and Jasmine Rodriguez, born and raised in Yonkers, who has been earning a living tattooing in the Bronx for the past 17 years after realizing at a very young age she wanted to become a tattoo artist -- at 15, she begged the owner of Champion Tattoo for a job. Plus, each episode features three people with hilarious and downright disturbing tats, including these images in Season 1: a horrible Los Angeles skyline tattoo; a pot leaf; a client's portrait of his ex; a dragon tattoo tramp stamp; a belly button tattoo; a tattoo prank of tribal flames; a Vegas mistake transformed into a pirate; and many more works of art that need a miracle makeover. Season 2 of this series premiered on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 at 10pm ET/PT, as Spike showed back-to-back new episodes. In the second season of TATTOO NIGHTMARES, the experts attempt to help: a suburban dad, who woke up in the emergency ward in a bloody gown with no recollection of his Thug Life stomach tattoo; a Catholic schoolgirl, who mistakenly got a satanic symbol inked on her; a woman so blinded by love that she let her legally blind boyfriend tattoo her; a man who paid for a lost bet by getting six nipples tattooed down his stomach, making him look like a female dog; and many more people who later regretted their choice of tats. TATTOO NIGHTMARES returned with new episodes on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 at 11pm ET/PT on Spike. In the Season 2 Winter premiere, Gus helped a man escape his perverted past, and Tommy tried to help a client restore his manhood. Meanwhile, Jasmine's client left her last artist clinging to life. After a six-month break, TATTOO NIGHTMARES returned with new episodes on Tuesday, June 23, 2015 from 11pm-MidnightET/PT, as Spike TV premiered back-to-back new episodes. In the summer premiere (11pm), "Dazed and Accused," a surfer rolls into the shop hoping Tommy can help him say sayonara an old mistake, while a mother comes to Gus searching for the key to some new ink, and a man wrongly accused needs Jasmine's help to escape his past. In the night's second episode (11:30pm), "Bad Luck of the Irish," a man is badly scarred in more ways than one as he tearfully asks Jasmine for help, while Tommy's client wants to lose her bestie, who's been following behind her for years, and a man needs Big Gus to help change his luck.
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Spike TV premiered the season finale of TATTOO NIGHTMARES on Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 11pm ET/PT. In the season ender, "Cops and Rockers," Gus attempts to fix four heavy-duty mistakes that test his "metal"; Jasmine finds some common ground with her client's ex boyfriend woes; and Tommy locks horns with a guy who was in over his head.