History Channel's 'Top Shot' Week Three Recap

With three episodes of the History Channel's Top Shot season three on the books,   remains a threat to take home the $100K Top Shot grand prize and the title of “Top Shot" heading into episode four.

Armed with the Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun, which is known as one of the fastest and most powerful shotguns in the world, Marinaccio’s blue team earned a decisive victory on Tuesday night, giving them a 2-1 advantage in team competitions thus far into the season.

Those two wins have kept the blue team out of the elimination round in all but one episode. The most recent win on Tuesday night leaves the blue team with a one-man advantage heading into next week.

The Challenge: Teams were presented with two wood rigs, each holding 50 mason jars. From 40 yards away, each team must break all 50 jars with the Benelli, which is loaded with one-ounce lead slugs.

Each person has a “slug caddie” attached to their hip, loaded with five slugs. After the competitor loads the shotgun and takes five shots, they go to the back of the line and it’s the next person's turn. That rotation continues until one team successfully breaks every mason jar.

“You guys feeling comfortable with the Benelli?” Top Shot host Colby Donaldson asks before introducing the next challenge. “Well you better be, because for this challenge, you’ll barely have time to catch your breath.”

And while the event was a very fast paced one, Marinaccio & Co. dominated the challenge from start to finish, regularly seeing team members hit four or five of their targets at a turn.

The blue team earned a 21-12 win and Marinaccio is shown taking only three shots, which all hit targets.

With their second loss in three events, the red team is again forced to send two team members into an elimination challenge. The two chosen are Drew Shprintz, a firearms instructor from Boca Raton, Fla., and Cliff Walsh from St. Petersburg, Fla. Walsh owns the distinction of being just the fourth person to ever receive the USPSA revolver Grand Master classification.

The Challenge: Competitors are faced with rig made up of descending metal tracks that includes five open gates marked by targets.

Using a Glock 34, each competitor must hit the targets to close the gates, allowing a “cannon ball” to roll to the end of the tracks, where it will fall into a bucket. If a target isn’t hit, the gate will stay open and the ball will drop from the tracks. The person with the most balls in the bucket wins.

Walsh ran away with the competition as he consistently hit targets, keeping all five gates shut. While Walsh appeared to have a good rhythm, Shprintz showed the complete opposite as he struggled to hit his targets. At one point, it appeared that Shprintz was completely overwhelmed by the event as he saw multiple balls fall from the tracks, one after another.

Walsh earned the win, sending 18 balls into the bucket, while Shprintz only landed eight.

Episode four of Top Shot airs on The History Channel, Tuesday, Aug. 30, at 10 p.m.