By Iain Harrison

This week’s episode saw the welcome return of my friend Chris Reed to the fold, and I bet he got flashbacks as he walked up to the house. The competitors are shuttled around the property in blacked-out vans so that challenges in the process of construction are hidden from view until it’s time to go to work. So any time you get to see the process from the other side of the camera, it feels a little weird.  The elimination challenge coach was 3-Gun phenomenon Taran Butler, and if you’ve never seen him run a Benelli, you’re missing one of the virtuoso performances of the practical shooting scene.

Now that the competitors have been in the house for almost a week, differences in opinion have emerged about the cohesiveness of blue team. William Bethards nailed the subject regarding the differing maturity levels, and it looks like tension may be building between him and Dylan. During the team challenge, the camera crew did a fantastic job capturing the impact of birdshot on clays and the design of the challenge itself was one of the best we’ve seen so far, as it mixed accuracy and teamwork through The Benelli M4 and the Vinci with different targets and ammo types. Unfortunately, the blue team’s performance was deficient in all areas and their lack of urgency in particular came back to bite them.

I tend to bang on about not being too hard on the competitors as they’re portrayed on screen because with the amount of footage available to the producers, it’s very easy to edit someone into the role of good guy or foil. That said, I bet Greg Littlejohn is regretting his interviews this morning—a tip for aspiring contestants; if you don’t give them the material, they can’t use it. The elimination range sent Terry and Michelle to battle it out with slugs and buckshot against props that no doubt were inspired by Taran’s experience with the most evil target in the World—the MGM Double Spinner. As many 3-gun competitors have discovered to their chagrin, the key to dropping targets like this is timing. It’s not enough to rely on just accuracy or power; you need all three elements working in order to master the array and Michelle was lacking in two of them. She did however exit with grace and dignity and will no doubt be missed, particularly by Dylan.

Next week mixes up primitive and modern equipment with the crossbow and the Smith & Wesson M&P 9 mm. I wonder which member of team S&W will show up to act as expert in the elimination challenge.