Oh, hey, there! What happens when the person you love has a tattoo you hate?
You bring 'em here and we cover it up.
♪ Mirror, mirror on the wall ♪
♪ Said, "You look like shh…" ♪
♪ It happened ♪
[Jessimae] Behind every tragic tattoo, there's always a ridiculous story.
Blake lost a bet.
I got it when I was 14.
I was at a friend's house, and he had a tattoo gun.
I just thought I was in love, y'all.
Lucky for them,
five of the most talented tattoo artists in the business
are standing by to give them…
a tattoo redo!
Honestly, girl, I don't know what that was on your back before.
But clearly, these people cannot be trusted with their own skin.
So the person that brought them in is going to choose the cover-up.
♪ Dun-dun-duhhhh! ♪
Oh, I don't know!
You better not mess me up, bro!
Welcome to the best day of your life!
Please be kind.
Will they love it? Will they hate it? Grab your grandma and some popcorn.
We're gonna find out together.
[Jessimae] Guys, I really wanna apologize
for the offensive tattoos you're about to see today.
Just kiddin'! You're gonna love 'em, you sickos.
Let's make another bad tattoo disappear.
This one's for Twig Sparks.
When it comes to tattoos, Twig can kind of do it all.
He's like a tattoo ninja.
You never know what kind of tattoo you're gonna get.
But you know it's gonna blow your mind.
My personality is one where I want everybody to chill.
Because I think the more you relax and have fun,
the better you can be yourself
and the better you can translate images onto the body.
[Jessimae] I feel so relaxed just seeing your smile.
I really hope it has the same effect on this next couple.
So, what do we got goin' on? What's up with the tat world?
The tattoo is mine.
I had some lyrics I really liked.
I was learning about different languages,
and I learned that Hindi is actually the oldest one still in use,
so I figured, "What a perfect match."
I went into Google Translate, took the lyrics in English, put 'em in,
went with whatever it spit out.
-Google Translate wrote your tattoo? -Yeah. Yeah, just--
Google Translate. I was like, "It's Google. What could go wrong?"
I was really excited when I left, I was taking pictures,
but compared it to the reference, and I was like,
"Oh, shit. Like, this is the wrong tattoo."
"It's backwards and it's upside down."
-Can we see this Hindu-- -Absolutely.
-Uh, situation? -It is on my hip. [laughs]
[Jessimae] It looks kind of like a mystical train track.
It's going to Andromeda, another galaxy.
We're gonna find a planet with life on it.
I'd be shocked for you to be somewhere, like at the barbecue pit,
and hoss comes rolling up like, "Oh, no, that's not right."
-Yeah. -[all laughing]
She doesn't like to go to the pool. She's like, "What if somebody sees the tattoo,
-and knows that it's wrong?" -I have had someone recognize
a different tattoo that's in Hindi as well.
You have two Hindi tattoos?
-One's right. -Yeah, one of them is correct.
I hope this cover-up is gonna change Anya's life,
like, in a way, like, she feels more confident.
I'm just hoping this is the beginning of a new chapter.
I'm excited for this moment for you, because I feel like
-you deserve some transformation. -Thank you.
Getting your tattoo covered up is a big commitment,
-but you'll be safe in Twig's hands. -Good!
-Like this. -[Jessimae] And, like, the greatest part
is that you don't get to choose it.
She does.
Oh!
♪ Dun-dun-duhhhh! ♪
-I don't know. -She's nervous.
-I can tell you how she feels. -I'm very nervous.
We have the same taste in some areas, but in some areas, we're total opposites.
I'm excited.
She would never let me pick her tattoo on her own.
I hate not having total control.
It puts my tummy in knots.
This is gonna be fun.
[Jessimae] Ashlyn, you better pick something good,
or your girl's gonna puke all over you.
So, what do you think is gonna fit?
-I think a Japanese dragon. -Mmm.
-She likes things with a lot of meaning. -Mmm.
I know Japanese dragons stand for balance and freedom.
-That's awesome. -Dragons are dope.
I think a dragon is a real good idea.
Okay, cool.
She's a brown-skinned woman,
and it was done so small, it looked like marching ants going down her leg.
Generally, the darker the skin tone,
you have to go bigger so you can see what it is.
So, I went with this right here.
-[Ashlyn] Oh, that is amazing. -[Twig] Yeah.
What I was looking for is that when someone sees it, I don't want them
-to have to think about what it is. -Right.
From across the street, I want them to go, "That's awesome."
Totally wipe out what she had, you know, like it was never there.
-Absolutely. -Like a hard restart. Bleep!
Yeah!
[Jessimae] But is she gonna like this better?
That's the question here, people. Because my girl is freakin' out.
Oh, man.
And this new tattoo looks like it's gonna be huge.
I'm just gonna make sure she doesn't see this tattoo until it's finished.
-That's your future. -Yeah.
I'm headed there, living my best life.
You are headed there, living your best life…
-[Anya] With hips that do not lie anymore. -[chuckles]
[Jessimae] Let go of the lies, ladies. Let's do this, Twig.
-I feel the magic coming. -[Jessimae] It's the time!
Here we go, sweetheart.
That's not bad at all, huh?
[Anya] It's actually not.
Yeah. That's that chocolate touch. It came from a Hershey factory.
I'm trying to put as much sugar on these lines as possible.
[twinkling sound]
[Jessimae] No such thing as too much sugar, Twig.
Miryam Lumpini's coming in, and she's the sweetest.
She's all, like, love and light,
and you can really tell when you see her tattoos.
They're so bright and colorful.
I absolutely love cover-ups.
The fact that I can take on somebody who is not happy with their body,
and they're like, "Can I even do anything about this? Am I destroyed for life?"
and be like, "Hold on. I got you."
[Jessimae] I gotta be honest with you, Miryam,
this next girl might actually be destroyed for life.
How do you girls know each other? Like, how long have you been friends?
-We've been friends for two years. -Two, two and a half. Yeah.
-I'm a little goody two-shoes over here. -Yeah.
And Michelle occasionally will make bad decisions.
I attribute it to my spontaneous personality,
but "bad decisions" is another way to phrase that.
I'm the one with the…
-horrible tattoo on my leg. -[Jessimae] We're going right into it.
What is this? Is that a piece of pizza?
[Michelle] Two naked ladies on my leg.
He looks like he's trying to crawl away from your tattoo.
Are those knees or balls?
[Michelle] They're two sets of knees and two sets of boobs.
What happened to you, honey?
My cousin's girlfriend got a tattoo machine for fun.
I was like, "You can tattoo me. That's fine."
Stop there. Never the cousin's girlfriend!
[Melissa] And you were being so nice to her.
[Michelle] It started off as one tattoo, so it was just the red one,
but after the months of me trying to learn to love this tattoo and failing,
my boyfriend had just gotten his whole setup and everything, and he was like,
"Let me try to see if I can fix it. I'll cover it up."
-And where were you, friend? Friend? -[Melissa] Um…
Not in her life yet. We weren't friends yet.
-Melissa! -Ever since then,
I've helped her make really good decisions.
Mm-hm.
I'm excited for you to get this covered up.
-Are you excited? -I'm so excited.
And the best part about this is that you don't get to choose…
-Melissa does. -No way.
She's choosing your tattoo.
-Oh… my God. -Okay.
-All right. Okay. -I'm feeling a little hesitation.
-You know-- -How much do you trust me?
I trust her judgment. I feel like she knows my style really well.
I don't think I could have picked a better person for this.
-Oh, my God. -[Michelle] Yeah, I really--
-I'm getting a tear in my eye. -I know.
Yeah, don't get too emotional. She also sucks really bad, and I hate her.
-[Miryam] Don't say it before we consult. -Yeah! It's a terrible time to say this.
I'd like to point out, not only did you make the bad decision once,
but you literally made it twice.
Tattoo me poorly once, shame on me…
[both] Tattoo me poorly twice, shame on…
-Me again. Yeah. -You again. Yes.
[Jessimae] Come on, Melissa, let's break that cycle of shame.
Pick somethin' good!
-I feel the simpler the better with her. -Yeah, I think-- I feel the same vibes.
Like, to me, I instantly felt…
-like, rose vibes. -Mm-hm.
I was thinking maybe doing, like, a rose with leaves coming up
that could really, like, hug her knee in a nice way.
I would be worried making it down towards the knee might be big.
I don't know if she'd be nervous about that.
I think it looks really cool, like,
-when you have your knee tattooed. -Uh-huh.
-To me, that looks hard. -Involved. Yeah.
That looks cool, looks clean, looks edgy.
I think the hardest part with this cover-up
is to keep it as small as she wants,
but the cover-up is pretty big,
so I'm gonna have to play a lot with the placement.
-This is gonna go on the knee. -Mmm.
I'm gonna use the red outline and put the rose there,
and then I'm gonna freehand black leaves that comes out where the black guy is.
Is it colored? I know she doesn't like bright colors.
We can even do the rose, like, almost black with, like, red highlights.
-Oooh. Okay. -That could be really cool too.
Like really, really, deep, deep red.
Okay. Yeah.
-The darker the better, probably, for her. -Okay. I got you on that.
So, yeah. I mean, I trust you.
-You're the tattoo artist. -Awesome!
-Let's do this. Awesome! -Yeah!
[Jessimae] So, Melissa trusts Miryam, and that's great.
But I don't trust Michelle, so I need to make sure she can't see this tattoo.
-It's a guillotine. -It-- it-- it is.
[Jessimae] This is so that you can't see what's going on.
-Surprise! -Honestly, am I surprised at this point?
I don't know.
[Jessimae] Oh! Michelle, Michelle, Michelle.
We have one more surprise for you.
Knee tattoos… hurt like hell.
[Miryam] Oh, that's a nice spot right there.
There's a lot of little different type of spots…
-you're gonna experience around here. -That's a good little cranny right there.
-What do you think it is? -[Anya] An elephant.
-[Ashlyn] You think it's an elephant? -I'm trying to, like, track his lines.
You're trying to see where I'm tattooing to make a mental picture of what it is?
-Yeah, but I keep losing focus. -[all chuckle]
I cannot believe I'm giving up this much control.
It feels like I'm in a rollercoaster with no belt, just kind of flying.
Oh, my God. How is this not comparable to childbirth?
[Twig] Remember to breathe. There you go.
[Melissa laughs]
Just watching your face for pain reactions.
[Michelle] Yeah. I can, like, feel it in my toes.
-Mmm. -Like, my toes are twitching.
Michelle has said many times she doesn't like bright colors,
and Miryam is using red, which is a bright color.
It's making me queasy watching it,
but I can't look away.
Honestly, I'm slightly terrified that Michelle's not gonna like her tattoo.
-[Miryam] All right! -Whew!
-[Miryam] I think we're actually finished! -Yay!
[Miryam laughs]
[Jessimae] Miryam, rude! Hasn't she been through enough?
You know what else is rude? Michelle didn't want too much color,
and now she has a giant red tattoo on her knee.
I really hope she doesn't hate it.
-Girl, this is the moment. -I'm a little bit shaky.
We went hard on you.
[Michelle] Yeah, she really did not hold back.
I need you to hold your hands against your eyes
-so you can't see when I take it off. -Okay.
[Jessimae] Just a couple more pieces of tape until a huge moment in your life.
[Melissa] Oh! I'm so nervous.
-And we'll find out… -I'm really nervous.
…what's happening with your living situation.
Are we getting the shovels to go dig some graves?
[Melissa] I hope not.
[Jessimae] Your knees are literally shaking.
I'm, like, ready for her to see it
and ready to have these nerves dissipate knowing that she likes it.
-That's best-case scenario, obviously. -Phew. And worst case is the…
-The real guillotine. Yeah. -Yes.
The grave-o-tine.
-[blade zings] -[laughs] The grave-o-tine. Yeah.
Okay, so on the count of three,
remove your hands and embrace the new you.
Okay, Melissa, your time to shine.
All right, three, two…
-One! -[Miryam] One!
Oh, my God.
[Melissa] Is that a good "Oh, my God" or bad "Oh, my God"?
[Jessimae] What is it?
-Are you gonna cry? -[laughs]
What are you feeling?
-I love it. -Okay, good.
[squeals] Yay! She loves it!
-Yay! -[Jessimae] Ohhh!
[Melissa] I was afraid that was a bad cry.
Oh, it was a good cry. I can breathe.
[Miryam] You can't see your old tattoo now.
-[Michelle] Not at all. I'm blown away. -[Miryam] Not at all.
[Jessimae] Where is the creepy guy
-crawling away from you? -[Melissa] Yeah.
This is so amazing. She just knows me better than anyone else,
-that she could pick out a tattoo… -Aww! Michelle!
…that looks so good on me.
-[Melissa] Thank you. -I'm gonna cry again.
-Teamwork makes the dream work. -I'm like, "You, cry?"
-"I'm gonna cry!" -[all laughing]
These are tears of joy and absolute love, and I couldn't be happier.
[Melissa] I'm glad you like it.
-I'm glad I like it too. -Yeah.
For your sake.
-Oh. -[laughs]
[Jessimae] I was scared.
-[Michelle] I was scared for me. -[Jessimae] I wasn't sure how you felt.
[Melissa] I can take my roommate applications off of Craigslist now.
-[Jessimae laughs] -[Michelle] Yeah!
Hmm. All right, ladies, that's a wrap.
-Oh, my God! I'm so excited to see it. -[Twig] Done deal.
-Yes. -Okay.
-[Twig hums] -You don't look as excited as me.
-I'm nervous. I just hope I like it. -It'll be good.
[Jessimae] Anya looks freaked out. She's putting so much trust in her girl.
I have faith.
I have faith Ashlyn picked something good she's going to love.
I'm trying to have faith.
[Twig] All right, so, Anya, before I show you this,
be prepared to be in love with this woman for the rest of your life,
because what she picked out for you is awesome.
It's dope!
-I'm nervous. I'm so nervous. -[chuckles]
It's awesome. Let's make it happen. You were waiting six years for this.
Oh, gosh. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
No twerking. No twerking. You can do that tonight.
-Boom. All right. -All right.
-Oh, wait. I can't see it. -[Twig chuckles]
[gasps]
Holy shit. It's a dragon!
-It's a dragon. -Oh, my God!
What? That's on me! [laughs]
-[Twig laughs] -[Anya] What? You did that!
-There you go, little mama. -Holy shit. A dragon's perfect.
You know me better than I know myself, and this proved it.
It's a dragon.
[Ashlyn laughs]
-Mmm! -Oh, it's okay.
Thank you. [whimpers]
[sniffling] Wow!
-Okay. -Oh, you're gonna make me cry.
-No! -[all laughing]
[Twig] That's awesome.
-A new you and a new start. -[Anya] Yeah.
Now I will never cover this at the beach.
-When people walk by, I'll pull it out. -[Twig] Right!
-[gasps] I couldn't wait any longer. -[all laughing]
-Can I come close to you? -[Anya] Yes!
Or do you wanna--
Girl, walk that new walk. Walk that new walk!
I feel like a new woman. I feel transformed.
Oh, my gosh.
-I know, right? It's a dragon. -Girl.
-[all laughing] -You're the dragon.
The past is gone.
I didn't expect it to feel like that.
To feel, like, this big weight off my shoulders. Like… "Whew!"
-Gotta do the WAP now. -It really is.
Aaah! Aaaah!
We have to learn her new walk.
-I like her new walk. -Yeah!
[Jessimae] We did it, you guys!
Bad tattoos walked in, great tattoos walked out.
What we do here is basically magic. I mean, it's been quite a journey, right?
I guess that means there's only one thing left to do.
It's my turn. Ruh-roh.
-I'm putting my hand through? -Get over there.
-Is there somebody to explain the rules? -There's no rules.
-[Rose and Matt] There's no rules. -You're in our house.
-[Rose] Get in there. -Argh! You're just gonna start?
-You won't say anything to me? -[Rose] Jessi, can you stop moving?
-[sighs] -[Twig] Oh, we're about to start.
Are you scared now you know what the clients feel?
-[Jessimae] Yes. -[Matt] Wait, let me ask you this.
What don't you want?
Matt, you know, you really came out of your shell today,
-and I'm wishing you'd crawl back in. -[Tommy] Is it hard to tattoo her?
-[Rose] Yeah, she keeps [bleep] moving. -They're having a party over there.
[Rose] Can you tell her off for me?
-[Tommy] Stop moving. You're a nightmare. -Don't make me move.
I feel like you're really close to my hand.
[Rose, laughing] Stop talking!
-Don't move! -I'm sorry!
[screams]
[Rose] Can you not move? Go on. Crack it down.
Oh, perfect. That's amazing.
[yells]
What is this area?
[Tommy] She makes people do this all day long…
-[Rose] And now she can't handle it. -She can't hang.
Where is the loyalty?
[Rose] We're done.
Rose, you're rude.
-I am rude 'cause you were moving so much. -Rude.
[Tommy] Jessimae, you ready?
-Let's see her reaction. -Did I mess it up?
-You did, actually. -Ready?
-I did? -Yeah, you moved a lot.
That's why I was yelling at you the whole time.
-Did I really? -[Tommy] She wasn't kidding.
[Twig] They have wristbands on sale now.
[Rose] You could get a lot of beads. You could wear a big bracelet.
-So I need to cover this up? -[Matt] Keep that paper towel on it.
-Hold the paper towel. -Okay!
So, when can I look at it?
Go for it.
[Tommy laughs]
[all laughing]
-Do you hate it? -Guess…
-That's super clean for moving around. -[Rose] Aww! Look how red it is.
[Tommy] Portrait of Rose.
Do you actually like it, though? Oh, my gosh.
[all] Ohh!
[sobs]
Babe! [laughs]
This is the worst tattoo I've ever seen.
[all laughing]
-[Miryam] It looks so good on you. -[Rose] We didn't [bleep] up any lines.
I was lying. Even though you moved.
-Are you sure? Oh, my God. -[Miryam] We were joking. It's so clean.
[Jessimae] That's badass.
[Matt] Now you're in. You've been tatted in.
-You got a bigger family now. -I know.
-[Rose] We love you. -I honestly feel that way.
This is beautiful. It really is.
-Thank you so much. -[Rose] Yay!
[Jessimae] You guys, it was worth the pain!
They can't get rid of me even if they wanted to.
I'm part of the family now.
And you. You out there. Yeah, I'm talking to you.
Don't treat your skin like a scratch pad,
but, if you do, we're here for you.
Until next time, you sickos.