Its there’s one person I’ve been pulling for in the Top Shot series, since fellow blogger Caleb was eliminated, it’s been Kelly Bachand. He’s very well rounded and a natural shooter, and just seemed to be like the kind of guy who could unexpectedly prevail. But this week, after sending yet another competitor home, he got to go first.
It turns out in this challenge, going first was the last thing anyone wanted to. I thought Kelly was setting the standard with a minute and a half, but that’s what got him eliminated, along with along with Adam. When you’re the last two people sitting on the bench, the last thing you want is to be betting on J.J. Racaza making a mistake. That didn’t happen. Tough breaks for Kelly and Adam, but that’s the way the bullet cuts the fuse I guess.
Thanks for spoiling it for those of us on the left coast! :-P
Yeah, how bout a spoiler warning next time?
And damn, I really liked Kelly. He showed up several of the grumpy old men. Oh to be young and talented…
At least he took Adam with him. If I had to see my favorite go, that made it a bit better. Adam has left a bad taste in my mouth ever since the episode when Caleb got sent home.
I liked Kelly until the challenge with Andre. Andre shot better but couldn’t figure out poker, so it’s not like Kelly really deserved to be there (I know, the game’s the game, but still, he got outshot and won because the other guy hit the wrong cards…he hit them, though). I was glad to see both him and Adam go. The last four seem to be good guys all.
The line of the night was “Four of the shirts up on the Railing of Fame belong to people that Kelly sent home.”
Not bad.
If that’s what it took to send that whiny little scrofulous toad Adam home, it was a small price to pay.
Boy, lots of Adam hatin’. In case anyone forgot, this is a reality show, not a shooting competition. I hate to say it, but he’s the only one who has obviously played it like a reality show is normally played. If you hate the way it’s played, then I would suggest avoiding reality tv, even if it does involve some trick shooting.
Bitter,
Wasn’t the game-playing that annoyed me, it was the whining and excuse-making.
I don’t hate the game, I hate the playa.
I thought Brad was the worst of the whiney.
Oh, he was bad, too.
The “I’m a super pistol shooter! How come we have to shoot these crappy old Mosins? I don’t know how to throw knives! Slingshots are stupid! Bows and arrows? Whaaa!” just got so old.
For a counterexample, just look at Denny; he hadn’t busted a cap on a live round in years and he cowboyed up and did his best without sniveling or making excuses. I can respect that.
I thought Denny was pretty much the bottom of the pile when it came to respectability. He repeatedly failed his team on challenges that were supposed to be “his” games. Then, Adam was spot on in predicting that he wouldn’t volunteer himself to go, and that he would find an excuse to vote for Kelly. If Denny had been honest about playing the game element of the show the entire time, then it wouldn’t have been an issue, but with his ramblings about doing the right thing and not wanting to play that game bs, it was total shit by the time he left. I don’t think folks should try to look like they’re taking the high road when they’ve put themselves on reality tv.
What I liked about Adam is his ability to peg people pretty damn quickly. That’s why he made me laugh every week at the show. Anyone who goes on it needs to know they are on it because they are characters of some kind. That’s why it’s entertaining television. He just seemed to do a better job at both playing a character and calling other people out in their roles. I usually had to pause it because I would laugh so hard.
I think I’m going to love this show if they can find more characters. I suspect they will, and it’s going to be hysterical.
So long Adam, you’re a complete jackass!
Sofar only saw one episode (I kinda want to catch up, but I likely won’t bother) but the EP I did see was when everybody was shooting the Beretta, and some people were dead-on, some needed some work, but Brad was the only one shooting like shit and blaming the gun.
Sorry sweetie, if everybody is marking low-left maybe the sights are off….if most people are able to carve out the x-ring with a few practice shots, maybe you’re just screwing the pooch.
Adam was very much a fan of reality TV coming in to the show, which you can see clearly influenced his strategy and decision making during the show. I would say that most of the rest of us were closer to me – we only watched reality TV when our wives/girlfriends forced us to.
It doesn’t matter if you purposely acted a certain way because it was reality tv, you were still chosen because you could add to tension/drama/amusement of some kind for the tv audience. :)
I’ll be honest, if future contestants don’t watch some reality tv as part of their “training” for the show, then they are nuts. It is what it is, and anyone who embraces it will probably have a much better time than anyone who takes it too seriously as a strict shooting competition.
Bitter,
Well, I’ll have to defer to you on the reality TV thing, as it’s not my cup of tea. I’d never watched a reality show before, and probably won’t be watching one again, either.
Just not a fan of teh drama, personally.
It’s an entire industry built around drama. You’re not invited on the shows unless you can create it or get caught up in it. That’s why you find people who don’t watch shooting shows watching Top Shot. It’s a reality show, not a shooting show. It would be a little like Survivor, only with less starvation, fewer chickens and fires, and every challenge involves guns instead of some variety of swimming/running/other sporty activity.
Well yeah, drama is a part of reality tv. So is disliking the person who is portrayed as “that guy” and being happy when he goes home. ;)
I don’t know, I thought maybe he was being set up as a Richard Hatch. :)
Poker…
Shooting is more than just hitting the target. It’s knowing which target to hit.
Do you shoot the guy 40 ft away with the revolver or the guy 3 ft away with the knife.
Kelly won the poker challenge fairly. Granted it was more than just marksmanship.
@Bitter
“If you hate the way it’s played, then I would suggest avoiding reality tv”
That may be the way reality TV shows are played. But the results are people dislike him. That’s also part of the show. I just disliked his double-standard of honor. Came across as poor character. Plus his comment against the Coast Guard won no points with me either.
Oh, he won it fairly, but only because Andre didn’t know how to play poker–hardly a test of shooting skill. Kelly lost the shooting skill part of that one. Obviously, he won the challenge fair and square, but he didn’t deserve all of the props folks are giving him, since Andre beat himself.
Yeah, but Richard actually won Survivor.
I still don’t think they needed to work at generating the artificial “reality tv” drama. This week’s episode, where they finally got rid of the teams and had everyone compete in an actual SHOOTING competition, was arguably the most entertaining one yet.
Looking forward to the finale, even though the two folks I was rooting for are out (Caleb and Kelly)