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The Long Shot

The Long Shot

Season

One

Episode

One

Date aired

June 6, 2010

Top Shot
Expert

Craig Sawyer

Firearms used
Victory

Blue

Eliminated

Mike Seeklander

Episode guide
Previous episode

None

Next episode

Zipline of Fire

The Long Shot is the first episode of Top Shot Season One. It was aired on June 6, 2010.

Official description[]

Sixteen skilled shooters arrive from around the country to live together, put their marksmanship skills to the test, and compete for the $100,000 prize and title of Top Shot. Divided into two teams, they face off in an obstacle course incorporating unfamiliar rifles from different eras. After a surprising mistake, two unlikely competitors compete in a long-distance sniper challenge that sends the first contestant home.[1]

Episode[]

Beginning[]

Blue Team TLS

Blue Team

Red Team TLS

Red Team

The episode starts out with the arrival of the 16 comtestants of Top Shot Season One, being divided into two teams, the red and blue teams. Assigned to the red were Andre Robinson, Bill Carns, Brad Engmann, Denny Chapman, Frank Campana, Kelly Bachand, Mike Seeklander, and Peter Palma. The remaining 8 contestants, Adam Benson, Blake Miguez, Caleb Giddings, Chris Cerino, Iain Harrison, Jim Sinclair, J.J. Racaza, and Tara Poremba were placed into the Blue Team. After all of the contestants arrived and got into their teams, the host, Colby Donaldson appears and states the rules of Top Shot, and introduced them to their home for the next few weeks. After being given time to get used to the home and time to familiarize themselves with their fellow competitors, the contestants were sent to the Practice Session.

Practice Session[]

Red Practice session TLS

The Red Team during the Practice Session.

Before taking part in the Team Challenge, both teams were given the opportunity to practice under Craig Sawyer, a former sniper and instructor, with the four firearms that would be used during the Team Challenge, the M1903 Springfield, SVT-40, Mosin-Nagant, and the M14. One person in a group of two fired the weapons, while the other spotted. During the practice, Mike Seeklander had managed to take control of the Red Team, and the practice overall for his team was exceptionally well, with the competitors seemingly having fun. After the Red Team had finished, the Blue Team practiced with the weapons, and in contrast to the Red Team, had a bit of an edge and tension.

Team Challenge[]

Mike Seeklander challenge

Mike Seeklander and Andre Robinson during the Team Challenge.

Blue Team Mud Pit

Adam Benson and Chris Cerino slosh through the mud pit.

After completing the Practice Session, both teams went back to the home and rested until the next day. While at the house, however, members of the Red and Blue teams decided on who would be firing what weapons. The challenge was broken into four parts with each of the four weapons and obstacles. The first station involved crawling under a barbed wire to get to the shooting post of the M1903 Springfield, with targets at 50 and 100 yards. The second station involved going through a thicket of brush to get to the station of the SVT-40. Following this was climbing a rope to get to the third station with the Mosin-Nagant. Finally, two team members would have to cross a mud pit to get to the station of the M14. Mike Seeklander and Andre Robinson started for the Red Team while Iain Harrison and Tara Poremba started for the Blue Team. After both teams made it through the barbed wire, the 50 yard targets were hit quickly, but there were struggles with hitting the 100 yard targets for Mike and Iain, due to Mike's misses and Tara's inability to locate the target with the spotter. After Tara had managed to find the target, Iain miraculously hit it and Caleb and Blake entered the obstacle course and fired at their targets with the SVT-40. After only a short amount of time, both targets were hit, and Jim and J.J. succeeded to their station, firing with the Mosin-Nagant. After both men shot their targets, Adam and Chris got through their obstacle and reached the M14, and quickly shot both targets. In the end, the Blue Team won due to Mike's inability to hit his target.

Elimination[]

"I don't blame any one of you if you vote me off, because I might be thinking the same thing. So..."
―Mike Seeklander to the Red Team.[src]
Red Team decision TLS

The Red Team decides who to nominate.

After losing the challenge, the Red Team had a meeting on who they would vote to go to the Elimination Challenge. Mike willingly claimed full responsibility for the Red Team's loss and nominated himself to go up for elimination. After this, Brad Engmann states that Mike is a good shooter, and that if he left it would weaken the Red Team significantly, and nominated himself to go for elimination. After Brad's opinion was stated, more people begun to stand up for Mike. After the meeting, Mike stated to Kelly that if he'd be shooting against anyone for elimination, he'd rather it be Kelly, because Mike considered him the best.

At the Nomination Range, Andre was first to shoot the target of who he believed should be eliminated. After being annoyed at how everybody stood up for Mike, he decided to shoot a bullet into Mike's target. He was followed by Brad Engmann's vote towards Kelly, which was followed by a shot to Brad's target by Denny Chapman and another vote towards Brad by Kelly Bachand. There was then another shot to Mike's target by Frank Campana, followed by a vote towards Kelly by Bill Carns, then another shot towards Mike by Peter Palma. Mike was the last to vote, and decided on Kelly based on what he had told him earlier during the day. It was then noted that Mike and Kelly were going to the Elimination Challenge.

The next day, Mike and Kelly went down to another Practice Session with Craig Sawyer, learning that the weapon the two would be competing against each other with would be the Remington 700, a more modern rifle than the four used in the Team Challenge. Both of the marksmen showed to be well at shooting the rifle, especially Kelly, who had jokingly shot a smily face into his target during practice.

Mike Seeklander elimination

Mike Seeklander with his spotter Bill, shooting against Kelly.

During the Elimination Challenge, Mike and Kelly were given the decision of choosing a spotter for the challenge. Mike chose his spotter to be Bill Carns, while Kelly chose Peter Palma. For the challenge, the two were to shoot at a 200, 400, and 600 yard target with the Remington 700, and whoever would shoot all of their targets first would be declared winner. Mike let off his first few shots at the 200-yard target, managing to hit it only moments before Kelly had hit his own. The two advanced towards their second target, which was quickly destroyed by Kelly. Mike struggled to keep up with Kelly, and in the end, had not managed to shoot his 400-yard target before Kelly shot his 600-yard target and won. Mike was then eliminated from Top Shot as the first competitor to lose an Elimination Challenge.

References[]

  1. Red copyright Fair use material from the Episode Guide
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