FX's The Bear is known for weaving countless easter eggs and references into each episode, but one of the most talked-about topics comes from Jeremy Allen White's character, Carmy Berzatto, and his tattoos.

In real life, White has six tattoos: a triangle; the initials 'R.W.'; a tattoo dedicated to his eldest daughter Ezer; the letters 'EZ'; and the word 'sweet'. His final tattoo is dedicated to his ex-wife Addison Timlins, who is a close friends of Dakota Johnson's. The design is a heart with an arrow pierced through it and in cursive font, it reads 'Buddy & Billie', which is thought to symbolise their nicknames for one another.

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But in every episode of The Bear, White's tattoos are nowhere to be seen. All but one of his tattoos are meticulously covered up for filming, however, which was revealed in an Instagram post uploaded by one of the show's make-up artists, Ignacia Soto-Aguilar. The caption of Soto-Aguilar's post detailed that five of White's scars are hidden, eleven tattoos are transferred and five of his personal tattoos are covered up. As well as this, it takes the team just 24 minutes to conceal and apply temporary ink to the actor, whereas it previously took them an hour and twenty-six minutes to finish it during season one.

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© 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc//Disney

It takes a village too. In Soto-Aguilar's post, a team can be seen hovering around the star, waiting to conceal his body ink. White appears to shave the hair on his tattoos before Soto-Aguilar then covers it in make-up, blowdries it and and adds on the temporary tattoos.

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But what do the fictional tattoos mean in relation to Carmy and his life? The '773' is the Chicago area code, a symbol of his heritage; there's a Grim Reaper holding a bottle of whiskey and two angels with the sun, both of which are meant to reference the good and bad in Carmy's characterisation, as stated by the show's tattoo designer Ben Shields. A snail with the words 'Live Fast' is spread across his right arm and indicate an ironic joke of how action-packed the chef's life is. A knife stabbing a chef's hand and a globe in a measuring cup signifies the struggles he has endured to get to where he is in his career, while the image of a fish and his 'SOU' tattoo which stand for 'Sense Of Urgency' are believed to keep his character motivated. Lastly, he has a flower on his left arm in tribute of his brother Mikey who passed away.

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