Bad Tattoo Contest Friday at Edmonton Expo Center

Friday night was a celebration of mistakes for a small group of body art enthusiasts.

The Ben Alway Memorial Bad Tattoo Contest was held at the Edmonton Expo Centre as part of the Edmonton Tattoo and Arts Festival.

Legacy Tattoo Removal organized the contest in honor of former tattoo removal expert Ben Alway, who passed away in 2023.

“People report some of their mistakes or some of their tattoos that don’t meet their expectations, and we review them and we laugh,” said Madi Rawson, co-owner of Legacy Tattoo Removal.

The contest was free for festival-goers and prizes were awarded to the three worst tattoo owners.

The winner was an X-rated Dungeons and Dragons tattoo on his leg, which owner Blaine got eight years ago.

Blaine said he came up with the idea while he had “three sails in the wind.”

When he finally went through with it, the performance was below expectations.

“It was seven years of regret,” Blaine said. “The first year I was like, ‘Yeah, this is okay. It’s not terrible, right? Right?’

“And then I talked to enough people and, oh yeah, it’s terrible.”A spicy Dungeons and Dragons tattoo took home the top prize at the Ben Alway Memorial Bad Tattoo Contest at the Edmonton Expo Centre on April 20, 2024. (Sean McClune/CTV News Edmonton)

Blaine’s adult drawings won Legacy’s grand prize: a $500 gift card to have the ink error removed.

“Our mentor Ben would have loved it if that tattoo had won the competition,” Rawson said.

Blaine is glad he got a head start on removing his racy tribute, but he doesn’t regret the design or the subject matter.

“I want it to look like it was supposed to look in the beginning. So I’m just going to have it removed and put back in, but not horrible,” he added.

With files from Sean McClune of CTV News Edmonton