Inked from his ankles to his neck, a Las Cruces dermatologist, Dr. James Kerner, leads a new reality TV show which sends three people on an all-expenses-paid trip abroad to get a free tattoo.
The show could forge a new path for New Mexico’s film industry, and the frontman is not a tatted rockstar like Blink-182’s Travis Barker, nor is he a tattoo artist himself.
He’s a board-certified dermatologist.
“InkDoc: Worldwide Coverup,” which stars Kerner and is directed by filmmaker and New Mexico State University Professor Ross Marks, has already received offers from three major streaming services and is expected to air early 2026.
Kerner has encountered tattoos ranging from beautiful to unusual in his nearly 20 years of practicing dermatology in Las Cruces. In the back of his mind, he wondered what it might be like to get one himself. Combining tattoos with his love of travel, he decided to test the waters with an easy-to-hide back piece done in Northampton, UK.
“I didn't know, as a doctor, whether it would be a problem,” Kerner said. “Whether I might lose patients or just have them not see me in the same way as before.”
When he returned with his permanent body souvenir, his patients didn’t seem to care; if anything, it built a rapport with the younger crowd.
So, he continued his ink journey, first with tattoos drawn on his chest and abdomen created by artists in New York and France. Later, he got tattoos on his legs in Japan.
Four years and 450 hours of inking later, Dr. Kerner described his journey as simultaneously painful and fun. With each session, he learned more about tattoos and how to care for them, something he said is surprisingly not taught in his field.
Kerner’s passion for “tattoo tourism” grew despite the dwindling availability of real estate on his body. He wanted to keep going, even if he was not the primary one getting inked.
He came up with an idea for a contest to recruit three adventurous people interested in getting tattooed abroad. The winners would get an all-expenses-paid trip by the InkDoc team and a free tattoo by an artist from the chosen destination. Everything would be filmed, and Kerner would be their guide, giving them medical advice.
He brought the concept to Marks.
With over 30 years of experience in the film industry, Marks said he knows when he hears a good idea, and a dermatologist with tattoos covering his body was already visually appealing.
The two opened the contest on Kerner’s website and received about 50 completed entries from around the world, including some from Las Cruces. They said more people were interested but thought it was a scam.
“It does seem kind of too good to be true,” Marks said. “Tattoos are very expensive.”
Along with the requirements of being over 21 with a passport, having at least one tattoo and speaking English, applicants had to submit a brief video about their tattoo and why they should be picked.
In the end, they chose three winners –– one from New York, one from Dallas and one from Canada.
Their first destination: Bangkok, Thailand.
Kerner and Marks rented a house where they’d all live together for a week and seek to answer the question “what does it mean to be tattooed in Thailand?”
According to Kerner’s experience, the process felt spiritual.
He showed off the back of his left hand, which had a Sak Yant –– a type of tattoo given by Buddhist masters believed to contain mystical powers. Its hand-poked, compass-like design symbolized safety and protection during his travels to the unknown.
“The way they just sort of looked at you and looked through you … and then they knew what they were going to give you,” he said. “I just put my faith in them, and I was really happy with the results.”
On the one hand, Bangkok had this traditional and spiritual style of tattooing, but there was a modern, more Western side as well. The three contestants explored this “tale of two Thailands” at different studios throughout the week, with each getting a piece by an artist for three consecutive days.
Kerner, familiar with the soreness felt after just one ink session, said this was not an easy endeavor.
Three cameras rolled for 14 hours a day documenting the weekslong trip, which included adventures outside of just tattooing. The crew consisted of Marks’ daughter, two former NMSU students and a Thai crew of about eight people.
Marks, whose industry work has only been in narrative film, said the experience was a learning-curve and one he couldn’t fully prepare for.
“You just have to have a camera ready and rolling because you just don't know what's going to happen,” Marks said. “That was very exciting from a filmmaking standpoint.”
While shows like “Breaking Bad” have paved the way for narrative stories in New Mexico, there remains a large area of growth for unscripted TV, according to Marks. He hopes this show will act as a pioneer in that realm and put Las Cruces on the map.
"Here’s this extremely erudite, experienced, knowledgeable, one-of-a-kind doctor here in Las Cruces, bringing this show to the world –– most of these shows are out of New York or L.A.,” Marks said.
As the show grows, he plans to hire a larger crew of New Mexicans and create new classes at NMSU related to shooting reality TV.
Marks and Kerner hope to complete six trips, with two episodes filmed per trip. They have already opened the contest for their next location scheduled October 4-12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. People can apply for free until 11:59 p.m. on July 31. To find out more information about entering, or about tattoos in general, visit theinkdoc.net.
