Last night's team challenge showed that, despite the 10/22's old school wood stock, simple iron sights and complete lack of a tacticool railed forend, it is nonetheless a great equalizer. Chris Reed demonstrated his knowledge and insight of this when he said, “with the .22, in ten minutes I'll tell you who's the better shooter.” And he should know, having regularly placed in the Total Outdoorsman Challenge.

Expert for both challenges was Spencer Hoglund, who last season taught the contestants the art of running a SAA at speed against a similar backdrop to this episode's. Known by his Cowboy Action Shooting handle of “Lead Dispencer,” he's a true master in his field and a genuinely good guy to boot. The unsung heroes of this show, however, are Pilgrim Films' art department personnel who have managed to come up with shooting competitions that captivate the audience, while providing challenges to the shooter that test the fundamentals of marksmanship while being both fair and extraordinary. No mean feat.

The shooting gallery itself encouraged the contestants to push themselves to see just where that balance of accuracy and speed lay, in order to gain the maximum number of hits in the time allowed. Unfortunately for blue team, Jay's performance consisted mainly of missing slowly. People who shoot with me regularly know my reputation as a sandbagger, so I claim a little insight to the subject. If I were a less charitable guy, I'd say Jay was angling to win as many two thousand dollar gift cards as possible by suckering his teammates into the elimination challenge, but having talked to him I'm pretty certain that wasn't the case.

What Jay does have is an extraordinary ability to address the mental aspects of the sport. His background in both golf and competitive archery has equipped him with the tools needed to focus on his own game to the exclusion of events around him. He simply does not get rattled by his opponent's performance and manages to use his admittedly shaky shooting technique to its fullest advantage. While Daryl was in many respects the ideal student, listening to the instructor and trying alternative methods such as cocking the pistol with his weak hand so as not to break his grip, seeing Jay catch up and then pass him caused him to pull some of the easiest shots in the entire competition.

Next week, George gets his wish to shoot something a little bigger and the teams merge as this competition turns into an individual event. Shooting Barrett M82s at a thousand yards should give the resident sniper a distinct advantage, but given the season so far, I'd be willing to bet there'll be a twist. Also in the newest trailer, there's something oddly familiar about the guy shooting an AR-15 can't quite put my finger on it...