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 which aired on Tuesday nights. The winner of the season was self-taught shooter Dustin Ellermann, who was originally from the Blue Team.

Season Three was released on DVD in the U.S., with the subtitle of The Gauntlet, on April 24, 2012.

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.

The entire season was released on DVD on April 24, 2012.

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		Original Team	Merged Team	Eliminated
	Amanda Hardin 33, Birmingham, AL	Red Team		16th Place
	Sara Ahrens 38, Roscoe, IL	Blue Team		15th Place
	Drew Shprintz 27, Boca Raton, FL	Red Team		14th Place
	Mark Schneider 45, Tierra Verde, FL	Red Team		13th Place
	Jarrett Grimes 42, Atlanta, GA	Blue Team		12th Place
	Paul Marinaccio 31, Fairfield, NJ	Blue Team		11th Place
	Billy Rogers 33, Calabasas, CA	Blue Team		10th Place
	Michael Marelli 28, Long Island, NY	Red Team		9th Place
	Cliff Walsh 40, St. Petersburg, FL	Red Team		8th Place
	Jake Zweig 39, Barrington, NH	Blue Team	Green Team	7th Place
	Phil Morden 25, Milford, MI	Red Team		6th Place
	Alex Charvat 38, Conifer, CO	Blue Team		5th Place
	Chris Collins 26, Collinsville, OK	Red Team		4th Place
	Gary Quesenberry 40, Cleveland, OH	Red Team		3rd Place
	Mike Hughes 38, Maple Falls, WA	Blue Team		2nd place
	Dustin Ellermann 28, Zavala, TX	Blue Team		Winner

Episodes

Image	Number	Name	Weapons	Experts	Eliminated
	1	The Gauntlet	Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum LaRue Tactical OBR Winchester Model 1873	Jim Finch	Amanda Hardin
	2	Down and Dirty	AK-47 Smith & Wesson M&P .45	Craig Sawyer	Sara Ahrens
	3	Slug it Out	Benelli M4 Super 90 Glock 34	Taran Butler	Drew Shprintz
	4	The Bulldog Gatling	Remington 1875 1877 Bulldog gatling gun	Spencer Hoglund Garry James	Mark Schneider
	5	Throwdown Showdown	Hotchkiss mountain gun Rock Throwing knife Tomahawk	Jack Dagger Rick Pohlers	Jarrett Grimes
	6	Turn the Corner	Vltor TS3 CornerShot	Jeff Gonzales	Paul Marinaccio
	7	Tricked Out	Schofield 5-Inch Barrel Pinkerton Model Smith & Wesson 686 Volquartsen .22 Semi-Auto rifle	Jerry Miculek	Billy Rogers
					Michael Marelli
	8	Ramp It Up	Recurve bow	Chris Palmer	Cliff Walsh
	9	Stacked	McMillan Tac-50 rifle Walther P38	Craig Sawyer	Mike Hughes
	10	Odd Man Out	Infinity Sight Tracker .40 pistol Sako TRG rifle	Taran Butler Mike Voigt	Jake Zweig
					Phil Morden
	11	Wheel of Fire	SP89 Steyr SPP	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.