The Daily Paragraph -- The Human Canvas Jury

I've mentioned the past that I'm a fan of the reality tattoo competition showe Ink Master. It's overwrought and ridiculous, but the competitors do appear to be genuinely talented artists, and the judges clearly take their roles seriously -- a little too seriously. One element of the show is clearly there just to create tension: the Human Canvas Jury. This is the panel of tattooees who received free permanent art work on their bodies during the challenge (probably after signing a pretty impressive legal waiver relinquishing any right to sue for dissatisfaction with the final product). They gather in an isolated room after all the needlework is done to decide who received the worst tattoo of the day. The responsible competitor becomes eligible for elimination in front of the judges shortly thereafter. This season, the Ink Master production team added a nice little wrinkle to the process. This time around, the "canvas" with the worst tattoo gets to come to the judges' discussion to confront their artist before the final elimination. It's a nice little touch of drama, which always makes for good TV, but here's the thing -- it's totally pointless. The judges don't really care what the Human Canvas Jury thinks. If they disagree with the jury, the selected artist is definitely safe. If the jury truly selects the artist most deserving of elimination, you can bet the judges would have booted him or her anyway. Here's my suggestion of how to tweak the system a little to make the Human Canvas Jury a little more relevant, and I think it would make for good TV, too. Instead of having the judges make the final decision, have them nominate the bottom artists and let the jury decide who packs up shop and leaves. It only makes sense, right? They are a JURY, after all. I think this approach would be great. The judges could make the case for why each bottomfeeder deserves to go home in front of the jury before they're all sequestered for deliberation. What do you think, Dave Navarro? It's a great idea, right? If you use it, I don't even need any money, but some kind of producer credit would be nice.