Ink Master: Rivals
The cast of "Ink Master: Rivals" took to Twitter following the shocking episode 11 elimination. Spike

“Ink Master” viewers saw the most shocking elimination – possibly in the history of the Spike series – during episode 11, "Rivals," on Tuesday. Josh Hibbard, a front-runner in Season 5, was sent home despite having the best tattoo of the challenge. The twist? The tattoo artist, who has more than a decade of experience in the field, had been smoking marijuana to cope with his anxiety, a violation of the show's rules.

Josh’s big reveal occurred after the judges critiqued the elimination challenge tattoo. The challenge was for the remaining contestants to use finesse in order to tattoo the spine of a canvas. Josh, who was up against his rival from Season 3 of “Ink Master,” Jason Clay Dunn, had to design and tattoo the Empire State Building. All three judges – Oliver Peck, Chris Nunez and Dave Navarro – agreed that Josh beat Jason. But after being confronted by his fellow competitors, Erik Siuda and Aaron Is, Josh was forced to come clean about smoking weed while on the show.

Peck, Nunez and Navarro agreed that they are simply there to critique the tattoos – but that didn’t mean Josh was safe from elimination. Although Josh was not in the bottom four of the challenge, the judges shocked the contestants and viewers by announcing that Josh had violated the contract … and would subsequently be sent home.

Josh Hibbard has since released a statement on the matter, but see how his fellow competitors and the judges reacted on Twitter:

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