What Happened To Gia Rose After Ink Master: Angels?

On the Paramount Network, formerly Spike, "Ink Master: Angels" was an all-star matchup of sorts between four female tattoo artists and former "Ink Master" competitors. Among those involved in the 1st season of "Ink Master: Angels" was a tattoo artist named Gia Rose from New York City (via Instagram). Rose first appeared in "Ink Master" Season 8 but abruptly left "Ink Master: Angels" after only five episodes, and her sudden departure left her fans wondering what had happened.

A popular tattoo competition reality series in its own right, "Ink Master" premiered in 2012, according to IMDb. The show switched to the streaming platform Paramount+ in 2022 after the series was canceled by the Paramount Network in 2020, as Deadline reports. The potential prize for Rose and the other competitors on "Angels" was the chance to return to the "Ink Master" competition in Season 10 (also per IMDb). After her swift exit from "Angels," Rose took to Twitter to update "Ink Master" fans on her status.

She had a sciatica flare-up

To answer fan questions about why she would no longer be on the show and what had happened, Gia Rose retweeted the official "Ink Master" Twitter account, which in 2017 simply stated that the show's most recent episode would be her last without explanation. In that same tweet, the tattoo artist and reality star explained she had recently experienced a sciatica flare-up and was advised by her doctors to step away from filming.

According to Mayo Clinic, sciatica is a painful nerve condition that affects the lower body and is often caused by a herniated disk in the spinal column. As Rose's tweet went on state, "After a difficult time with travel, my doctors decided to ground me from flying until I get my chronic condition under control ... This means I am unable to complete filming for the show." In the same tweet, she also announced her final episode. Rose's experience with sciatica was so severe that the pain landed her in the ER.

Rose was treated for cervical cancer in 2014

As Gia Rose also noted in her 2017 tweet, she developed sciatica after undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of cervical cancer, according to In Touch Weekly. Also in 2017, Rose spoke with Monsters & Critics about her cancer experience and how she turned to social media to help cover the cost. "Health insurance is something that's very, very important, it's very sad that it's a huge part of the medical field, it shouldn't be," she said. "Advocating for yourself is a full-time job and it's very hard for people to be able to do that."

In the same interview, Rose explained that she no longer had cancer, but she still dealt with many lifelong physical repercussions from the treatment, like sciatica: "I beat cancer, I no longer have cancer, but I still deal with a lot of physical repercussions that are now lifelong and haven't, like ... you know, the side effects that they don't talk about which nobody can blame on our medical system, especially with oncologists, you know. Their primary concern is to save your life and to get rid of cancer."