The show begins with its usual slideshow of sneak peaks for the episode, played over the opening theme. Finally the show begins, showing the contestants awaiting the start of their second eliminiation challenge.

The MCs as alwasy approach the contestants shortly after the scene focuses. Taeyeon is holding the envelope with the results from the previous challenge, and all eyes are drawn to it.

Hwajin is looking confident, as is Seonwoo, but both Alexis and Saerom look nervous.

Taeyeon takes pity on them and wastes no time in tearing open the envelope to reveal the week's winner.

She grins slightly at reading the results. "Well it seems confidence wins out! Congratulations to Hwajin and her team, you four have immunity in this week's elimination round."

Hwajin grins proudly, and her team all look quite pleased as well.

"Well, Hwajin was right." Diamond acknowledges in her interview. "We apparently were the team to beat."

"Naturally." Hwajin says in her own interview. "I almost feel bad for the others, they didn't stand a chance. I've got natural leadership ability and we had the top vocals in our corner. Seriously, it was no competition."

Alexis is smiling sadly in her own interview. "Well, we tried, and I think our group did really well. But Hwajin's group was really good too, so congratulations to them!"

Seonwoo's cheer is undented as he discusses the results. "I'm happy for them! I think their performance was totally awesome, they deserve the win! Good job guys!" He happily holds up a fighting sign as the show switches to show the final leader.

Saerom is fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "I mean, Hwajin's team did great so it makes sense." Is all she'll say, directing her words towards the floor.

The scene switches back to where the MCs are waiting to tell the contestants about their new challenge.

Leeteuk speaks first. "As you all know, this week we have another elimination round. The concept for this week is 'classic and sweet'."

Taeyeon nods. "As before, we've selected songs for this round that will be provided once you've moved to your practice rooms. As before, choreographers will be provided starting tomorrow, so we suggest you divide lines before the end of the day." She smiles and gestures for the female contestants to follow her.

The scene cuts away to show the girls arriving in their practice room and Taeyeon passing out their song.

"This song may be a bit harder to divide lines for." Taeyeon warns as the girls start reading over the sheet music. "There's no rap sections."

Saerom and Alexis both look up in concern, but Jiae just shrugs.

"Seems like a pretty cute song anyway, I prefer singing for those." She observes.

Hwajin nods and waves Lucy and Ryuwon over. "Okay, let's get started. Sujin, you cool getting fewer lines again? I assume you're choreographing."

Sujin frowns and shakes her head. "That tactic got me last place two weeks ago." She points out flatly. "I'd like more than what I had, thanks."

Hwajin nods briskly. "Cool cool." She, Lucy, and Ryuwon immediately bend over the sheet music and begin quietly debating line distribution.

Diamond claps her hands lightly. "Well then, why don't the rest of us work on vocal techniques? Since we're all going to have to sing." She looks over at Alexis and Saerom particularly, and both girls look away.

"I feel bad that I'm not a great singer." Alexis sighs in her interview. "I worked super hard at dancing and rapping during training but I never really figured out the singing stuff."

In the practice room Diamond has taken up some one-on-one lessons with Alexis and has assigned Sujin and Jiae to work with Saerom on her technique. She's being quite patient with her impromptu student even as Alexis continuously makes the same mistakes repeatedly.

"I'm sorry, show me that again?" She finally gives up and looks at Diamond with a mix of determination and frustration. "I know I've asked five times already-"

"We all learn at out own pace, it's nothing to be ashamed of." Diamond replies evenly. "You just happen to be bad at singing so it's going to take longer."

Alexis flinches.

Saerom's practice seems to be going a bit better, as both Sujin and Jiae are smiling.

"You really need to give yourself more credit Saerom, your singing voice is actually really nice." Jiae says encouragingly.

Sujin nods. "Technique isn't perfect but you haven't really trained for singing so that makes sense. Your biggest flaw right now really is your own self-conciousness."

Saerom stares at the floor apologetically. "Sorry." She murmurs.

Sujin whacks her lightly over the back of the head. "See? That's what I'm saying. Don't apologize, work harder."

Jiae nods in agreement and Saerom lets out a soft breath.

"Okay. Show me the technique again?"

The scene moves away to the final group of women, who are situated in a circle on the floor, debating line distributions.

Ryuwon is shaking her head. "I'm telling you we don't have enough cutsey voiced people left since U.Jin was eliminated. The chorus is going to sound more sultry no matter who we use, so I say we just embrace it and leave the cuter voices to the verses."

Hwajin is frowning. "I dunno, I still say the contrast of one or two cuter voices will make the whole thing more 'classic' sounding than having the same tone through the whole thing." She replies evenly, a slight challenge in her eyes as she looks up at Ryuwon. "But I suppose you may know best. Unless you're just trying to get yourself more lines." It's a mild observation but Hwajin's eyes are sharp and accusatory.

Ryuwon glares. "I'm not. Fine, what if we have Alexis sing these parts? We can tell Diamond to focus on having her sing more nasal, it'll create a contrast from the rest of the chorus."

Hwajin smiles. "Sounds good!" She agrees.

She's still smiling in her interview. "I'm glad we're not fighting about distribution. I was worried things might be more tense this week since I have immunity but Lucy and Ryuwon don't. They get most of the choruses though, so I think that balances things out." She nods desicively.

In the practice room Hwajin has moved to Diamond to explain the new game plan for Alexis while Lucy and Ryuwon continue with the line distribution.

"Wait, Saerom only has one part." Ryuwon observes abruptly. "And Jiae has, like, five. I think we should give one to Saerom."

Lucy frowns. "She's not a singer though, should we really give her that many parts?"

Ryuwon gives her a deadpan look. "Two parts? I think we'll manage."

Lucy flushes and nods. "Okay, yeah, sorry. I'm just nervous I guess."

Ryuwon nods. "Eliminations are nerve wracking." She agrees. "Okay so, which part should we give to Saerom?"

When Hwajin returns from speaking with Diamond, the other two girls have finished tentatively outlining the song and Hwajin goes over it quickly before waving Sujin over.

The dancer takes a moment to talk with Jiae and Saerom before complying, bounding over and accepting the sheet music handed to her.

"Think you can choreograph this by tomorrow?" Hwajin prompts, and Sujin grins.

"Who do you think you're talking to? YOu guys go get dinner, and I'll be done by the time you get back."

Hwajin smirks. "Big talk for a kid. I look forward to seeing it."

Sujin just grins in return.

The show then finally turns to where the men are working. Based on the sunlight streaming through the practice room windows, it's a good few hours earlier than when the girls finished their line distributions.

Jo has once again taken control of the group, and he's listening patiently to each contestant as they give short examples of their singing.

Ollie is standing next to him, looking bored.

"Look, not that I'm going to complain about getting the entire rap section to myself, but seriously why isn't R getting a rap?" The youngest contestant asks during a short break between Woncheol and Kurozu's showcases.

Jo glances over at him. "I've had a hunch about R since the second challenge round and it was confirmed yesterday. He can sing, and pretty well at that. We're going to let him showcase it."

Ollie shrugs. "Okay. Is this almost done? I'm bored."

Jo laughs slightly, shaking his head. "Go get water or something, there's a few people left."

Ollie lets out a huff but does wander off towards where a pile of water bottles sits against one of the mirrors. He's joined rather quickly by a cheery Woncheol.

"Jo says I might get the little rap parts you aren't doing, isn't that cool? I never thought I'd get to learn how to rap on this show!" He beams happily and Ollie sighs in a way that indicates he's come to accept Woncheol's aggressive friendship.

"Yeah, that's awesome. Glad you're having fun." He grumbles flatly, and then groans when Seonwoo decides to join their conversation.

The cheerful singer takes a seat on Ollie's opposite side, sandwiching the irritated rapper between himself and Woncheol. "I can't wait to work on this song! It's way better than last week's I think."

Ollie shrugs. "I like last week's better." He responds flatly. "But really, it doesn't matter what song we get, you'll always rank high with your stupidly large fanbase."

Seonwoo blinks, clearly confused. "What do you mean? We're all here because our groups are struggling, right?" He points out, looking over at Woncheol as he speaks.

Woncheol shrugs. "Well, your group has almost won a couple of times." He mumbles quietly. "None of us have even gotten close."

Ollie nods pointedly. "I'd argue at least half the votes you get are just your fans blindly voting for you and not even bothering to pay the rest of us any attention. So thanks a ton for that, it's not like we don't already know what it's like to be completely overshadowed and ignored."

Seonwoo blinks hard, and then stands up and mumbles something vaguely resembling an apology before retreating to a different corner.

Woncheol frowns. "That was mean Ollie. You didn't have to say it like that."

"I'm not wrong though. It's not fair that he's here when he's already got a huge fanbase. You and me? We're looking at bankruptcy and disbandment. He's probably looking at a few extra comebacks before he gets a win." Ollie responds pointedly.

Woncheol doesn't say anything.

Jo chooses then to clap his hands and wave the group in. "Okay, I think I've got a distribution roughly etched out! Seonwoo, Lai, are you two alright with Kurozu and I taking the chorus? I think our voices are better suited to the tone of the song."

Both boys nod, though Seonwoo's is distracted. Jo glances at him for a moment before shrugging and moving on.

"Okay, everyone pass this around and then come tell me if you have any issues with what I did."

"It's interesting how there are so many leaders among the women, but only Jo really takes charge for the men." Taeyeon notes with no small amount of amusement in the MCs interview segment.

Leeteuk nods. "You would think it would be the other way around, but even with Ollie, definitely the most independent and defiant contestant, on his team, Jo does a great job balancing everyone."

Taeyeon nods. "It makes me wonder what will happen if any of the female leads are eliminated though. It would really shift their entire dynamic, and maybe not in a good way."

Leeteuk shrugs good naturedly. "Well, I suppose only time will tell! For now, both teams have their leaders, and a week left to make the perfect performance!"

Once again Sujin has displaced the paid female choreographer, and the woman is standing off to the side looking like she's not sure whether to be upset or amused by the situation.

For her part Sujin is content to focus on walking the other women through her dance, which it's clear they've already been practicing. Hwajin is as stiff as ever, but Sujin seems to have accepted that fact as inevitable and is focusing more on keeping the formations tight.

"Two three four, Saerom step left please, Diamond you look consipated stop. If Hwajin can be cute, you can be cute."

"I'm nearly thirty, this is ridiculous." Diamond sighs. "Maybe I should have fewer parts."

Hwajin, Lucy, and Ryuwon all immediately shoot down the idea, and Sujin makes a face.

"I'm not redoing the choreo because you refuse to even attempt cuteness unnie." She says flatly. "Come on, do it again, start of the second chorus."

Everyone hurries to the indicated section, and the actual choreographer starts the music for them oblidgingly.

"Honestly," She says in a quick cutaway interview. "It's nice to see how involved the girls are in the process. Though I do feel bad getting paid and not actually doing much. Sujin said she wants me to work with Hwajin once they have the basics down, but it's looking more and more like that's going to take a while what with certain contestants being uncomfortable with the concept."

Diamond sighs in her interview. "I just feel I'm a bit too old to be doing anyting cute." She explains. "It's uncomfortable for me, and I really don't have the face for it either."

"She said that?" Hwajin barks out a laugh. "Hey, I'm the first person to say I'm terrible at cute, but I'm still trying you know? Ryuwon too, and no offense to her but she's absolutely horrid at it. Diamond isn't trying at all - that's what's frustrating. If she's any good at it or not isn't the point."

Back in the practice room Sujin is clearly getting fed up. "Just... I dunno, smile or something. You don't have to do aegyo or anything, leave that to Alexis, she's good at it." She sighs in irritation. "OKay, okay, let's run it again, one more time, then Hwajin and Lucy both go work with the choreographer, okay?"

Lucy frowns. "Why do I have to go work? I'm a decent dancer." She says, pouting heavily.

"At y dancing sure. You're stiff and awkward with this one." Sujin snaps, finally at the end of her rope. "From the top then you two shoo. Saerom and Alexis you two are adorable, you'll work with Diamond. The rest of you with me. Any other questions?"

Her tone leaves no room for argument, and they start the run through with no further interuptions.

"Last week was so much easier." Sujin groans. "I mean, I'm better at powerful concepts too, but I'm pretty sure I'm not as completely helpless as some of them are with lighter concepts. For their sake I hope the next round is back to dark. I don't think they can handle another bright concept like this one."

The boys are doing much better with the concept than the girls, sitting on the group and watching the choreographer demonstrate a few moves.

"Alright, everyone got that? Now let's put together the opening position." The choreographer claps jovially and everyone stands to comply.

"He's definitely enthusiastic." Kurozu observes dryly, and a note stating he's talking about the men's choreographer appearing at the bottom of the screen. "But he's... disorganized. It's kind of annoying."

Several of the other male contestants seem to share this sentiment as the scene cuts back to where the choreographer is slowly directing Lai through a section of the dance.

"Shouldn't we finish going through the dance before we start nit-picking?" Ollie huffs under his breath to Woncheol, who as always is standing next to him.

Woncheol shrugs. "Preferably, but he wouldn't have been hired if he wasn't good, right?"

Ollie just rolls his eyes. "Sure. I bet you could do better than this joke."

Woncheol perks up, eyes bright. "You really think so? Thanks!" He grabs Ollie into a hug, that the other attempts - but ultimately fails - to break away from.

"Urgh, don't take it the wrong way, jeez." Ollie grumbles.

"I'm wearing him down." Woncheol laughs in his interview. "We're gonna be friends before this show it over, just wait."

Back in the practice room, the group has finally moved on to the next section of the dance, but once again the choreographer has stopped progress to try and fix Lai's positioning.

Jo finally clears his throat. "Sir? It's almost the end of the day, and I think we'd all like to finish the dance before tomorrow." He says it pleasantly, but it's clear that even his even nerves are being frayed by the choreographer.

The young man looks up in surprise. "Oh, wow, is it that late already? Okay, I guess we'll do more tomorrow Lai. Sorry guys, you should have said something!"

"It's not our job to say something." Ollie groans in his interview, dropping his head into his hands in frustration.

Lai looks down in his own interview. "I feel bad that I'm the one who's usually screwing up and causing us to be so far behind schedule. Jo has a couple times but it's mostly me." He sighs. "I wish I was better at dancing."

In the practice room the men finally wrap things up and the choreographer apologizes again for losing track of time. Most of the contestants assure him that it's fine but he does get a glare leveled at him from Ollie as the youngest male exits the room.

"We'll work on details tomorrow!" The choreographer calls after the departing contestants. "Good work today!"

"Great job today!" Sujin looks absolutely thrilled when the scene returns to her and the female contestants, two days before the final performance as noted by text on the screen. "Tomorrow I think we'll be ready to start singing live!"

Diamond smiles at the youngest female contestant, but it comes out as more of a grimace and she quickly excuses herself from the room.

Lucy lingers behind as the rest of the girls pack up and head out the door. "Hey, Sujin? Any chance you could, um, stay a little later? I'm still kind of mixed up on the chorus sections, and I just feel like i'm still too stiff."

"You are." Sujin replies immediately, still grinning. "But you're way better than before." She pauses when she actually turns to look at Lucy. "But I suppose another half hour wouldn't be the end of the world. What did you want to work on?" She asks as she places her bag back on the floor.

"Lucy has been way more tense this week than last elimination round." Sujin observes. "I think she's feeling the pressure of dropping in rank, and I mean, I get that." She laughs, somewhat self-depricatingly. "I'm not exactly a stranger to loosing public favor here."

"I just want to improve." Lucy says with a small smile in her own interview. "I know I'm not trained in dancing but dance is a big part of this show so I should focus on doing better." She nods firmly.

The next shot of the women shows them slowly walking through the entire dance. Sujin is continuously glancing around from her spot in the formation, checking that everyone is moving correctly, and seeming to be happy with the progress. Once they complete the run, Sujin hurries to turn off the music before it can loop arond and begin to play again.

"I think we just about have it!" She says proudly. "Hwajin, Diamond, and Ryuwon you go with Alexis and Saerom for a bit, work on your expressions. Everyone else can take five." She hums happily to herself as she takes her own advice and grabs a bottle of water.

Ryuwon and Hwajin both look irritated as they walk over to where Alexis is waving to them.

"Sujin has turned 'choreographer' into 'leader of the entire project.'" Hwajin grumbles to Ryuwon. "We know the dance now, she sort of needs to stop. She's even spoken informally a few times, did you hear that?"

Ryuwon shrugs but it's clear she at least partly agrees with Hwajin. "Well like you said the dance is learned now. Maybe she'll just back off on her own." She suggests tiredly.

Hwajin hums lightly. "We'll see. Anyway, Alexis! What are we doing today?" Her mood shifts one eighty as she grins at the younger contestant, and Alexis beams back.

"You can't stay in a bad mood around Alexis, she's literal walking sunshine." Hwajin laughs in her interview.

The scene returns to where the men are still working with their choreographer, and are clearly still not thrilled with him for the most part.

A majority of the contestants are standing around, waiting for the choreographer to finish working on yet another detail with Lai and Jo, both of whom look rather apologetic for being the squeaky wheels distracting the choreographer.

Ollie finally clears his throat, obviously sick of being ignored. "Hey, sir? Why don't you just have Woncheol work with Lai and Jo on this? He's got the whole part learned from watching you do it a million times and then you could give the rest of us something to actually do other than twiddling our thumbs. We've got a day left to the performance and I feel like I've barely done a thing." His tone is flat and irriated, and the choreographer winces.

"Oh, jeez, sorry about that guys! Um, yeah, that's a good idea! Woncheol?" He looks around, clearly having not actually learned any of their names.

Woncheol bounces up from where he'd been sitting next to Ollie. "On it! Lai, Jo, come on, we'll get you two smooth in no time!" He grins, once at the choreographer and once at Ollie, before grabbing Lai and Jo by the sleeves and tugging them away to the far side of the practice room.

The choreographer shifts uncertainly. "Um, okay, I guess let's run it from the top? See where the rest of you are at." He nods and starts up the music, leaving the men to scramble into their starting positions.

"I'm thinking this guy has never worked with a group this large before. Possibly never worked with a group at all." Jo sighs in his interview. "It's not his fault, but it's certainly frustrating. I'm honestly glad Ollie spoke up, even if he was rather crass about the whole thing. Lai and I are progressing faster with Woncheol since he knows us better, and the rest of the team is able to actually do something."

"What was SM thinking hiring this guy?" Ollie complains in his own private segment. "He's clearly inexperienced, and we're going to pay the price for it. I hope the girls' choreographer is this inexperienced as well, otherwise they've got a really unfair advantage."

"This week was supposed to challenge both groups with less focused choreographers." Taeyeon admits with a faint smile. "Though the ladies circumvented that pretty effectively since Sujin is serving as their choreographer. We admittedly didn't see that coming."

"It does make it more interesting though!" Leeteuk grins. "I for one am looking forward to seeing if the men are able to overcome their extra roadblock!"

The show returns to the stage on the day of the performances, and the two MCs wave enthusiastically to the crowd, which is the largest one so far during the show.

"Hello and welcome everyone to the second elimination round of Media Play! This week our contestants have put together performances fitting the concept of sweet and classic!" Leeteuk speaks first as Taeyeon continues waving.

"The groups hit a few speed bumps on the road," She adds, "But they've pulled together to create two great performances for you all tonight! WIthout further ado, introducing the ladies with their song 'Triangle'!"

The two MCs hurry offstage as the female contestants enter and get into two groups of four before waiting for their music to start.

Diamond - Short Hair; Alexis - Black Hat; Hwajin - All Red; Ryuwon - Two Buns; Lucy - Bow; Jiae - Blonde; Saerom - Red Hair Clips; Sujin - Crop Top

The audience cheers as the women hold their final formation for several seconds before filing off the stage.

"I think I did okay with the singing?" Alexis sounds nervous and hopeful at the same time in her interview. "I mean, I wasn't as good as Diamond or Lucy or even Saerom but I think I did okay?" She smiles uncertainly at the camera.

Diamond is equally uneasy. "I did try to act cute." She says. "I'm not good at it though. I know I didn't do as well this time around and it's rather frustrating. I always prefer giving one hundered percent and I felt I was unable to do that with this performance." She shakes her head slightly, frowning.

Jiae is on the complete oppposite end of the spectrum. "I had fun with this one! I mean yeah, Dangerous Girl was fun too, but way more nervewracking. This was just plain good fun. I'm really glad I got so many parts in it as well, I really like concepts like this one." She beams.

Lucy is giggling a bit in her interview, looking almost hagard. "I did it. I really did it." She grins at the camera. "You saw right? I stayed up really late every night to make sure I could do it perfectly and I really did it." She lets out a shaky breath, still smiling faintly.

Sujin is also a bit haggard from the apparent lacking sleep, though she's slightly more put together than Lucy. "I think I could have done a bit better if I'd focused on my parts instead of the whole group, but overall I think it was worth it - we did well." She nods firmly. "And I didn't do badly either, so hopefully that gets me some notice back." She jokes.

"Still not a cute fan, but that could have been worse." Hwajin laughs in her own interview. "I think I pulled off the sweet and innocent vibe decently enough, what do you all think?" She laughs again.

"Well, no one can say I didn't try." Ryuwon sighs with a faint grin. "Can't say how successful I was but Alexis gave me some solid tips and I did my best to execute on them." She shrugs.

"Oh gosh I hope I did well." Saerom is in full fidget mode, tugging at the hem of her shirt and blinking rapidly. "I don't really sing often so I don't know if I sounded good and everyone always works so hard. I only had two parts, I know, but I really hope I didn't mess them up." She blinks up at the camera before it cuts back to the stage, where the MCs are ready to introduce the men's performance.

Leeteuk grins. "Well that was certainly a lovely performance! Let's see if the guys can measure up with their song 'My Story'!"

The lights dim as the MCs depart the stage, and the men are only faint outline as they enter and hurry to their starting positions.

Eunjae - SUPER Short Dark Hair; R - White Blonde Hair, Spiked; Jo - Dark Hair 1st Chorus; Woncheol - 1st Rapper; Kurozu - Blond 1st Chorus; Lai - First Singer; Seonwoo - 2nd Singer; Ollie - Red Hair

As with the women, the men hold their final pose as the audience cheers, and the scene switches to their personal interviews before they can move to leave the stage.

"Well that went." Kurozu observes dryly. "It certainly could have been worse, but after everything that went on this week I think it could have been better too." He shrugs. "Well, I did well."

"I think that went great! Especially considering, um," Seonwoo rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "That we went a little slow? With the dance?" He laughs. "But I think we did great!"

Eunjae just shrugs uncomfortably in his interview, staring at his feet silently until the camera seems to give up and moves on to the next contestant.

R is equally quiet to start, but he ultimately relents and speaks up. "It was weird singing again, but I did miss it. I'm glad Jo pushed me to take that part." He admits with a small, shy smile.

"I think I got the dance right?" Lai says hopefully. "I know I got the singing right! But I'm not sure about the dance." He sighs. "I hope next week's dance instructor doesn't call me out so much, I really am trying! I think I've improved even in the just past couple weeks, right?"

"The girls probably won." Ollie says flatly. "I'm not even going to pretend our performance measured up. Between the cruddy choreographer, and both Jo and Lai being stiff it was just a mess. I put in one hundred percent, I'm sure most of us did, but that wasn't a great showing." He shrugs. "Just being honest."

"We all did our best!" Woncheol encourages the camera firmly. "And I think the performance went really well! So good job to all of us!"

"We did what we could with what we had." Jo declares diplomatically. "Personally I think the final product was quite impressive considering how little we really had. It's up to the viewers to decide whether or not we overcame our obstacles, but I think the group did well."

The show returns once more to the MCs and the cheering audience.

"Well everyone, that's our show!" Taeyeon smiles blindingly bright. "We hope you enjoyed this week's performances!"

"Don't forget to vote for your favorites!" Leeteuk adds. "And tune in next week! Until then, this has been Media Play!"