Top Shot Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Bill-carns-top-shot
Bill Carns
 Personal information
Born

1969-1970[1]

Hometown

Pahrump, NV[1]

Occupation

Radio Gun Show Host[1]

 Competition information
Team

Red Team

Place

14th

Episode eliminated

"Archer Enemies"

[Source]
"My skill level with the gun is quite high. Everyone else is shooting for second best."
―Bill Carns[src]

Bill Carns was a Top Shot contestant of Season One and member of the Red Team.

Personal life[]

Bill is from Pahrump, Nevada, where he is the host of 2A Radio. Among this, Bill is also a former police officer, business owner, efficiency expert, and runner of a multi-million dollar corporation. Since he became interested in the firearms industry in the 1990s, Bill has become a respected defensive firearms trainer. He is a qualified 5-Weapons Range Master and still teaches the art of shooting today.[1]

Top Shot[]

Week One[]

Bill Carns arrival

Bill Carns arrives on Top Shot.

Bill Carns was the first of the sixteen contestants to arrive for Top Shot Season One, where he was immediately assigned to the Red Team. After the remaining fifteen contestants arrived, Colby Donaldson went to introduce the rules of Top Shot. Shortly after, Colby introduced Bill and his fellow contestants to the house they would be living in for the next several weeks, where he possibly established a friendship with Mike Seeklander.

Bill Carns

Bill with the Red Team uniform

After being given time to get used to the house and be introduced to fellow competitors, Bill and the others went to a Practice Session before the Team Challenge. Here, under the guidance of Ex-Navy SEAL, Craig Sawyer, they were to become familiar with four different rifles: the M1903 Springfield, SVT-40, Mosin-Nagant, and the M14. During the session, Bill spotted for Mike Seeklander as he shot the target, and visa versa. Overall, Bill evidently did well during the session, though he is never actually seen shooting any of the rifles.

That night, both the Red and Blue teams strategized and assigned a person to each firearm. Bill was originally assigned the Mosin-Nagant, and would have had to climb a rope to get to his station, but after Andre Robinson and Mike Seeklander had arrived at the station for the M1903 Springfield, this assignment never occurred. Andre managed to hit his target, but Mike was unable to hit his. This caused the Red Team to be delayed to the point where the Blue Team was on its last station and managed to win while the Red Team had not made it past their first station.

After returning to the house, the members of Red Team were having difficulties deciding on who to send to the Elimination Challenge. Bill, despite Mike's inability to shoot his target, backed up for Mike, saying that anybody probably could have ended up with the same results unless they managed a lucky shot. At the Nomination Range, Bill shot at Kelly Bachand's target, stating that his experience level does not bring the Red Team much of an advantage. In the end, the two being sent to elimination were Mike and Kelly.

After being given a day's rest, Bill along with the rest of the Red Team had to go to the Elimination Challenge. However, Bill and Peter Palma were not witnesses of the challenge, but in a way, actually participated in the challenge. Just like the Team Challenge, the shooter was given a spotter. Mike chose Bill as his spotter while Kelly chose Peter. In the end, however, Mike did not shoot all of his targets before Kelly, and was therefore, eliminated.

Week Two[]

Bill Carns 2nd TC

Bill during the second Team Challenge.

The Red Team headed home without Mike Seeklander. When they returned to the house, the Red and Blue Teams hung up Seeklander's shirt as a tribute. Both teams were given time to rest before the next Practice Session with the Beretta 92F with guidance by Ben Stoeger. During the practice, Bill had managed to hit his targets well, but tried focusing on allowing Kelly more time to practice with the weapon. After Kelly had gotten used to the 92F, Brad Engmann used all the ammo used for practice after everybody else had shot.

At the Team Challenge, both teams had a total of seven tubes to shoot, each growing smaller as they went down. Bill nominated himself for shooting the smallest tube. After hits by Andre Robinson, Kelly Bachand, Denny Chapman, a miss by Frank Campana, a hit by Peter Palma, and a miss by Brad Engmann, Bill was up to shoot his target, but missed. Frank missed his target again, but Brad managed to shoot his during their second shots, and Bill had again missed. When Frank managed to shoot his target, Bill went up to shoot at his target, hitting it, but in the end, the efforts of the Red Team were not enough to save them from eliminating someone else.

Both teams returned to the house, where the Red Team discussed who they thought should be eliminated. Instantly, Frank stated he would vote for Bill because he missed two of his targets. Then, Bill countered this by saying he would vote for Frank for the same reason. At the Nomination Range, Bill stuck to what he said at the house. Frank, however, had changed his mind during that time and being at the Nomination Range. He instead, voted for Brad because he didn't want to listen to his complaints about the firearms used in the challenges. At that point, Frank was already set to be in the Elimination Challenge, but there was a 2-way tie between Bill and Brad. This tie was broken by Peter Palma, who voted for Brad for the same reason that Frank did.

A day later, after both the nominatees had practiced shooting the Beretta 92F again, Bill and the rest of the Red Team headed down to witness the second Elimination Challenge. In the end, Frank, the person Bill had voted for, was sent home.

Week Three[]

"I think Bill hates me. Bill never made eye contact with me, nor even pointed his face in my direction at all."
―Kelly Bachand[src]

After another loss by the Red Team, they arrived back at the house to hang Frank's shirt. They were given a night's rest where Kelly apparently said something Bill didn't like about his ex-wife. From then on, Bill began to talk to Kelly less frequently. During the Practice Session, both teams went to get used to shooting the longbow under guidance by archman Chris Palmer. Shooting a target with the bow and arrow, Bill managed to hit the yellow a few times. After returning to the house, Kelly tried to get forgiveness from Bill, but did not succeed.

Bill Carns 3rd TC

Bill during the Team Challenge.

During the Team Challenge, team members would have to shoot at a target, and whichever team hit closest to the bullseye would win. After Kelly had shot, the Red Team had gotten comfortable because of his accurate shot. However, after a close shot by Blue Team member, J.J. Racaza, Bill had to be able to shoot closer to the bullseye. In the end, Bill had ended up being unable to shoot closer, leading to another loss for the Red Team.

Both teams returned to the house, and the Red Team went into yet another discussion to see who to nominate for elimination. After the discussion, Kelly tried to convince Denny Chapman to vote for Bill. Bill ended up voting for Kelly based on personal tensions, but then Kelly voted for Bill for the same reasons. After Kelly shot Bill's target, Brad Engmann went up and shot Andre Robinson's target because he dropped a number of arrows. Andre then voted for Brad, and then Peter voted for Brad. The last shot was made by Denny, who had ended up voting for Bill. It was then known that Bill and Brad would be sent to the Elimination Challenge.

Bill Carns EC

Bill during the Elimination Challenge.

The morning of the Elimination Challenge, Bill and Brad got up and headed to a Practice Session, shooting a crossbow under guidance by Bill Troubridge. Bill Carns ended up shooting very accurately with the crossbow. At the Elimination Challenge, both Bill and Brad were to shoot at apples at 10, 20, 30, and 40 yards. Whoever shot all their apples first would win the challenge. Bill hit his first apple before Brad did, but Brad quickly caught up. Soon after, Bill shot his second apple, but didn't get much of a lead, as Brad had shot his second apple soon after. Brad then hit his third apple and Bill missed his. Bill then missed two more times while Brad attempted to shoot his fourth apple. Then Bill missed three more times until he hit his third apple. Brad, who had already shot at his fourth apple twice, however, ended up shooting it seconds before Bill was given a chance to shoot.

After the challenge, Bill stated that the reason he probably lost was because he did not reload the weapon as quickly as Brad had. Before leaving the competition, he had told the remaining members of Red Team to have fun with the rest of the competition.

Post-competition[]

After the elimination of Bill from Top Shot, the Red Team returned to the house to hang Bill's shirt as a tribute. It was hung next to Frank's and later Jim Sinclair's shirt. It is mentioned in the Season Finale that Bill has continued working on his radio show, and despite their differences, allowed Kelly to be a guest on the show.

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Bill Carns. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 9:22, April 30, 2011, from http://www.history.com/shows/top-shot/bios/bill-carns .

External links[]

Advertisement