Season Three

Season Three
General information
Host	Colby Donaldson
Country	United States
Language	English
Season information
Number of contestants	16
Teams	Blue Team Green Team Red Team
Winner	Dustin Ellermann
Production and broadcasting
Production company	Pilgrim Films & Television
Channel	History Channel
Run	August 9, 2011–October 25, 2011
Status	Concluded

"The challenges are not only going to be rigorous, they'll be downright torturous. In Season Three, the gloves are coming off."

―Colby Donaldson

Season Three of Top Shot premiered on August 9, 2011 and concluded on October 25, 2011. The season contained 13 episodes and was filmed during 2011 in Santa Clarita, California.

Production

History Channel requested auditions for a third season. Potential contestants were required to fill an application form and send an audition video. After the audition process, 50 contestants were selected and auditioned personally. Finally, the sixteen contestants were selected.

The third season of Top Shot was filmed over the course of 35 days, in Santa Clarita, California. The season premiered on August 9, and concluded on October 25, 2011.

Rules

The rules of Season Three were similar to those of the previous seasons, retaining the same rules for the Team Challenges, Practice Sessions, Individual Challenges, and Elimination Challenges. However, in the beginning, a Preliminary Challenge took place; those who became victorious joined the Blue Team, while the unvictorious joined the Red Team. During the individual portion of the competition, instead of being given the chance to vote for anybody not immune, such as in Season Two, the three worst performers of each challenge were eligible to be nominated for elimination.

This is the first season in which an individual of the Green Team withdrew themselves from the competition, and according to rules, the individual eliminated before him took his place in the Elimination Challenge that he would have competed in, for a chance of reentering the competition.

Contestants

The sixteen people chosen for Season Three.

"Every single marksman that shows up on Season Three has something to prove."

―Colby Donaldson

For Season Three, just like Season One and Season Two, sixteen contestants were chosen for the show after the producers viewed their audition videos and read their application forms. However, for the first time, the contestants were announced to the public before the first episode of the season was aired, with a slight introduction of each in Season Two's "Behind the Bullet". The contestants chosen to compete were:

Contestant	Age	Occupation / Background	Hometown	Original Team	Merged Team	Eliminated
Amanda Hardin	33	Firearms Instructor, Nurse, Real Estate Agent	Birmingham, AL	Red Team		16th
Sara Ahrens	38	Police Training Sergeant	Roscoe, IL	Blue Team		15th
Drew Shprintz	27	Firearms Instructor/Bartender	Boca Raton, FL	Red Team		14th
Mark Schneider	45	USPSA Competitor, Outdoorsman, Customer Service Professional	Tierra Verde, Fl	Red Team		13th
Jarrett Grimes	42	Homeland Security Agent	Atlanta, GA	Blue Team		12th
Paul Marinaccio	31	Detective/Firearms Instructor	Fairfield, NJ	Blue Team		11th
Billy Rogers	33	Restaurant Operations Manager	Calabasas, CA	Blue Team		10th
Michael Marelli	28	NY State Court Officer	Long Island, NY	Red Team		9th
Cliff Walsh	40	Revolver Champion/Airport Driver	St. Petersburg, FL	Red Team		8th
Jake Zweig	39	Ex Navy SEAL/College Football Coach	Barrington, NH	Blue Team	Green Team	7th
Phil Morden	25	Three Gun Competitor, Video Producer	Milford, MI	Red Team	Green Team	6th
Alex Charvat	38	Engineer/Outdoorsman	Conifer, CO	Blue Team	Green Team	5th
Chris Collins	26	Firearms Instructor, Former Marine, Student	Collinsville, OK	Red Team	Green Team	4th
Gary Quesenberry	40	Homeland Security Agent	Cleveland, OH	Red Team	Green Team	3rd
Mike Hughes	38	Competitive Pistol Shooter	Maple Falls, WA	Blue Team	Green Team	2nd
Dustin Ellermann	28	Christian Camp Director	Zavala, TX	Blue Team	Green Team	1st

Episodes

Image	Number	Name	Weapons	Experts	Eliminated
	1	The Gauntlet	Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum (preliminary) LaRue Tactical OBR (team) Winchester Model 1873 (elimination)	Jim Finch	Amanda Hardin
	2	Down and Dirty	AK-47 (team) Smith & Wesson M&P .45 (elimination)	Craig Sawyer	Sara Ahrens
	3	Slug it Out	Benelli M4 Super 90 (team) Glock 34 (elimination)	Taran Butler	Drew Shprintz
	4	The Bulldog Gatling	Remington 1875 (team) 1877 Bulldog gatling gun (elimination)	Spencer Hoglund (team) Garry James (elimination)	Mark Schneider
	5	Throwdown Showdown	Hotchkiss mountain gun (elimination) Rock (team) Throwing knife (team) Tomahawk (team)	Jack Dagger Rick Pohlers	Jarrett Grimes
	6	Turn the Corner	Vltor TS3 (team) CornerShot (elimination)	Jeff Gonzales	Paul Marinaccio
	7	Tricked Out	Schofield 5-Inch Barrel Pinkerton Model (elimination) Smith & Wesson 686 (team) Volquartsen .22 Semi-Auto rifle (team)	Jerry Miculek	Billy Rogers
					Michael Marelli
	8	Ramp It Up	Recurve bow	Chris Palmer	Cliff Walshv
	9	Stacked	McMillan Tac-50 rifle (individual) Walther P38 (elimination)	Craig Sawyer	Mike Hughes
	10	Odd Man Out	Infinity Sight Tracker .40 pistol (individual) Sako TRG rifle (elimination)	Taran Butler Mike Voigt	Jake Zweig
					Phil Morden
	11	Wheel of Fire	SP89 (individual) Steyr SPP (elimination)	Matt Burkett	Alex Charvat
	12	Season 3 Finale	AK-47 Benelli M4 Super 90 Glock 34 Infinity Sight Tracker .40 pistol LaRue Tactical OBR Recurve bow Remington 1875 Rocks Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum Smith & Wesson 686 SP89 Vltor TS3 Volquartsen .22 Semi-Auto rifle Winchester Model 1873	none	Chris Collins
					Gary Quesenberry
					Mike Hughes
					Winner
					Dustin Ellermann

Elimination

#	Contestants	Episodes
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	Dustin	WIN	NOM	WIN	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	WIN	WIN	WIN	WIN	WIN	BTM2	WIN	WINNER
2	Mike	WIN	SAFE	WIN	WIN	NOM	SAFE	WIN	WIN	OUT	IN	NOM	WIN	WIN	OUT
3	Gary	SAFE	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	WIN	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	NOM	SAFE	SAFE	WIN	OUT
4	Chris	SAFE	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	WIN	WIN	SAFE	NOM	SAFE	WIN	WIN	OUT
5	Alex	WIN	SAFE	WIN	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	WIN	WIN	WIN	WIN	OUT
6	Phil	SAFE	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	WIN	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	WIN	OUT
7	Jake	WIN	SAFE	WIN	WIN	SAFE	NOM	WIN	WIN	WIN	LEFT
8	Cliff	SAFE	WIN	NOM	SAFE	WIN	WIN	NOM	OUT
9	Michael	SAFE	WIN	SAFE	NOM	WIN	WIN	OUT
10	Billy	WIN	SAFE	WIN	WIN	SAFE	SAFE	LEFT
11	Paul	WIN	SAFE	WIN	WIN	SAFE	OUT
12	Jarrett	WIN	SAFE	WIN	WIN	OUT
13	Mark	NOM	WIN	SAFE	OUT
14	Drew	SAFE	WIN	OUT
15	Sara	WIN	OUT
16	Amanda	OUT

     The player's team (episodes 1–8) won the challenge.

     The player(s) won individually in the challenge.

     The player's team lost the challenge, but the player was not nominated for elimination (episodes 1–8); or the player did not finish a challenge at the top or bottom of the group (episodes 9–10).

     The player was nominated for elimination, but won an elimination challenge (episodes 1–8); or the player finished a challenge at the bottom of the group, but won a tiebreaker (episodes 9–10).

     The player lost an elimination challenge and was eliminated. (In episodes 9 and 10, every challenge ended in one or more automatic eliminations.)

     The player voluntarily withdrew from the competition.

     The player won a challenge to re-enter the competition.

     The player won the $100,000 grand prize.

Broadcasting

On July 11, 2011, the first commercial for Season Three was aired. At 10/9c on August 9, 2011, the season premiere, titled "The Gauntlet", was broadcasted. It was aired on the History Channel until its conclusion on October 25, 2011. The third season was filmed over a period of 35 days in Santa Clarita, California.