History’s Top Shot Reality Competition Series Hits June 6th – Plus Interview With Host Colby Donaldson

History is getting into the reality competition game with their new show Top Shot, and it looks like this might be an interesting battle. Coming to you June 6th, the show pits contestants against each other in challenges that test their marksmanship. Those aiming for the top prize range from professional shooters to Wild West entertainers, and they're all after a $100,000, and the title Top Shot.

Check out all the info below, and don't miss an interview with the show's host, Survivor's Colby Donaldson.

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Whether it's William Tell using a crossbow to shoot an apple off his son’s head, or Annie Oakley using a hand mirror to make a shot with a rifle slung over her shoulder, history is filled with legendary tales of amazing marksmanship. Now, HISTORY is tapping into these inspiring feats of sharp-shooting for its first-ever competition series, TOP SHOT, premiering Sunday, June 6 at 10pm ET.

Sixteen of the nation’s most skilled marksmen have been carefully selected to compete in the new 10-episode series. Some have professional shooting experience, some are amateurs –all will showcase breathtaking timing, speed and accuracy in their quest to win the $100,000 prize package and title of “Top Shot.” The winner will ultimately have to be skilled in everything from muzzle-loading muskets and modern pistols to slingshots and throwing knives.

The series is hosted by actor, adventurer and athlete Colby Donaldson, a born competitor whose experience as a contestant on Survivor brings a unique perspective to HISTORY’s first elimination series.

Each week, contenders will face both team and individual elimination challenges until one winner remains. In the series opener (Sunday, June 6), contestants are immediately divided into two teams and then compete in a “Rifle Relay,” an obstacle course using standard-issue rifles from four different wars. In the elimination round, two contestants go head-to-head in “The Long Shot,” a long-distance sniper challenge which will send the first person home.

In episodes 2 and 3 (Sunday, June 13 and Sunday, June 20), contestants’ skills with the pistol and bow and arrow are put to the test. From muzzle-loading muskets to throwing knives, every challenge will focus on weapons, technologies and techniques of different eras in history as high-speed HD cameras capture the skillful execution of each test in extreme slow-motion.

Contestants vying for “Top Shot” include professional shooters and world-record holders, but there are also amateurs, including a Wild West entertainer, a historical firearms collector, and a radio gun show host. They range in age from a 22-year-old rifle prodigy to a 47-year-old retired New York cop. There is also one female in the group, the first female in the history of the Chicago Police Department to become “Top Gun” of her graduating class.

Interview with Top Shot's host Colby Donaldson

What's the main difference between being a reality show competitor and the host of the show?

Colby Well based on my experience, the food and lodging is much better when you're the host.  I never knew or I had no idea that having competed three times now on Survivor but also just being a devout fan of the game for as long as I have - for ten years now - I had no idea it would come into play so much as the host.

That's what Top Shot is.  It's specifically a competition show, and it's very similar in some ways to Survivor.  There were a lot of times when the producers and I would come upon situations where it was familiar territory to me, whether it was dealing with a tie break situation or potentially thinking about merging the two teams.  This was all ground that I had covered several times just through my tenure as a competitor.

What would be the main piece of advice you would give to those contestants on Top Shot?

Colby The key to succeeding at Top Shot is definitely going to be adaptability.  We're got professionals that in some situations, these guys shoot 2000-3000 rounds a week.  Three thousand bullets a week they're firing, but they're only using one weapon. That's how they became professionals is by being absolutely proficient with one weapon.

Now we're asking these guys and female to step up using any type of weapon.  So, even though they're intimately familiar with a semi-automatic pistol, when's the last time these guys picked up a black powder Kentucky long rifle and tried to hit a moving target?  That's what's going to make this so interesting.  So, to answer your question:  Adaptability will be the key to succeeding in this game.

As somebody who sat through tribal council and had to deal with Jeff Probst's questions, has that made you a little bit more sympathetic to the contestants on this show?

Colby Well, maybe not sympathetic but certainly empathetic.  I do know what these shooters are going through just in terms of trying to maintain focus for this long of a period of time.  It's not about competing one day or two days or three days.  These guys are all thrown together in a house.  You're forced to get along with people that you don't necessarily want to get along with, and even more so on Top Shot because we've got both teams living in one house.

That's what's going to make for some interesting social situations around the ranch house with these guys.  But in terms of Probst, man, I have a whole new appreciation for how good he really is at his job and as host of Survivor.  He's truly unbelievable, and so I've got a whole new appreciation for him and his efforts at that.

But also, I never knew until now how much I was sponging off of him and just learning not only as a competitor on the show but just as a friend of his.  Always admired his work and now it's paying off a little bit because I've certainly learned a few things from him over the years.

Blake

Part of the fun of watching these reality competition shows, whether it's Survivor or Top Shot, is getting to know the contestants through the course of the show.  Is that something that's an element of this show, that we're going to get personal stuff with these people?

Colby Well, no question.  That's what drives the show.  We knew just because of the nature of having guns, blowing stuff up, that we knew that stuff was going to be cool.  There's no way you're just not going to enjoy watching that.  But what you've got to have - what is integral to any good well-done competition show - it starts in the casting and you've really got to put together a dynamic group of individuals.

So in casting Top Shot, there were actually a couple of top-ranked national shooters that didn't make the cut, that didn't make the show, not because they weren't good enough with the gun but because they didn't bring enough to the table in terms - and I don't mean just drama and conflict; it's not all about the friction - but we need dynamic personalities.

We need people that are going to bring something to the competition and to the entire experience of Top Shot beyond their shooting ability, and I think we got that.  So to answer your question:  Absolutely.  That's what having now seen the second and third episodes starting to come together, you really do start getting invested in the players.  As a fan and a viewer, you start picking sides.

You start getting those that you want to support and you want to get behind and you start rooting for and you're hoping they're doing well, and of course, we've got a couple of villains speckled in there, too.  So yes, it's going to make for a good season, no question.

Tara

Colby Right.

I was really surprised to see only one.

Colby Yes, I was too.  And again, what it comes down to is just I don't think there were enough that applied.  That's what obviously moves it forward.  If it does well - we're all hoping it does and we get a season two - we would love to stack the deck more evenly in terms of male versus female.  But it came down to who applied for the competition, for the show.  It's not just about applications.  Then they have to qualify.

We took all these shooters out to the range, and we tested them with various weapons at various distances.  So it's not about - unlike Survivor and some of the other competition reality shows where it's all about your interview and the psych exam and all that - this show is very different and Top Shot is very different.

You must be good enough to make the cut and that's what's going to keep the quality, the standard, very high on this show.  So in terms of females, we would love to have seen more.  The one we got is unbelievable.  She's an ex-Chicago SWAT team.  She was Top Shot, top gun, of her graduating class, so she certainly earned her way in.  She is by no means the token female on a male-dominant shooting show.  That's not the case at all.

James

Now being from Texas and an outdoors kind of guy, how well do you think you would have done as competitor on the show?

Colby Well, I guess when I first got hired on as the host, I kind of envisioned myself as one of the competitors and thought I would do pretty impressively.  Well, then the game started and I started to see how good these shooters are.  So I don't know.  The thing is the difference - and I think this is another interesting point - when you have a competition like this where you invite shooters from all disciplines and backgrounds, whereas your military guys and your recreational shooters, those guys are used to picking up any weapon with any sort of sight or optic on it and hitting the target.

And that's the way I grew up.  I've been shooting since I was six years old, and growing up hunting, I never had time to adjust the scope or the sights according to wind and all the elements.  I had to adjust on the fly.  We call it Kentucky windage, and that's how you move the gun to hit the target.

Well, professional shooters aren't like that.  A lot of the professional guys are very accustomed to making adjustments on their weapons and taking time.  Well, they aren't going to have that luxury because we're throwing them into challenges that require quick and immediate responses, and that' where you get the intensity and that's why it's so fun as a viewer to watch this whole thing play out.

So to answer your question:  I don't know.  I'd like to think I'd hold in there and do pretty good but it would be tough.  I don't know.  I don't know that I'm going to answer that question.

What was the best part of the show for you as the host?  Since you were shooting since you were six, what interesting things did you learn?

Colby Well, one of the greatest just bonuses for me was every time we introduced a new weapon.  In every episode, sometimes twice an episode, we bring an expert on board to give our shooters a little background on the weapon, a little history on the weapon, and also help them prepare for the challenges.

So, here I get to benefit from all that.  I get to be the sponge and learn from some of the best in the country with these weapons, a crossbow for instance.  A crossbow is something I've never fired and so what a treat for me to get to have one of the best - not only crossbow shooters in the country but he also owns one of the largest manufacturing companies of crossbows.

So, as an enthusiast, I'm learning - the whole time I'm there to do my job, I'm also a little kid in a candy store just getting to learn about all the various weapons we use, which again is such a neat aspect of the competition, is we don't stick with one weapon.  As soon as the marksmen, the competitors, get familiar with a weapon, we're switching.  We're moving on.  In one week, we may be using pistols and the next it's rifles then all of a sudden we're going to throw a longbow in their arms.  So, it really keeps them guessing but it also stays entertaining for the viewer.

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About Marc Eastman

Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

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