The competition in The Debut: Dream Academy continues to heat up, as four more girls say goodbye to their chances of making the final cut for HYBE x Geffen’s global girl group.
The latest eliminations came on Sunday (Oct. 8), after the second of the competition’s three missions ended. The second mission, which took place in South Korea at the famed Training & Development (T&D) facility, required the remaining contestants to put their individual skills on the back burner and enhance their ability to work in a group with the other girls.
LE SSERAFIM’s catalog was the theme for the mission, with the remaining 18 contestants getting split up into four groups. The first two groups danced (Team A – Emily, Yoonchae, Lara and Sophia) and sang (Team B – Iliya, Karlee, Samara and Megan) to the K-pop group’s hit “ANTIFRAGILE,” while the latter two groups sang (Team A – Lexie, Marquise, Mei, Brooklyn and Nayoung) and danced (Team B – Daniela, Manon, Ua, Ezrela and Celeste) to “Fearless.”
In addition to performing to LE SSERAFIM’s tracks, the K-pop group surprised the girls at the Dream Academy with an appearance, and played a prank on the budding stars pretending to film content. The remaining 18 contestants also held a Q&A session with fans in Seoul to chat about the competition, perform the LE SSERAFIM tracks and give away prizes.
After the second mission concluded, fans voted via Weverse and YouTube to pick which of the contestant should remain in the competition. Brooklyn (USA), Mei (Japan), Karlee (USA) and Iliya (Belarus) were all chosen to go home, leaving 14 girls in the competition.
Once the third mission wraps, the remaining 10 girls will perform at the show’s live finale, which is set to take place on Nov. 17. The name of the group and its final members will be revealed after the finale.
Watch LE SSERAFIM surprise the girls of Dream Academy in the video below.
Fans around the globe are rallying for their personal favorite contestants in creative ways, including two contestants who had their supporters surprise them with their own billboards. Both Sophia (Philippines) and Celeste (Argentina) had billboards made for them in their home countries. See below for TikToks of Sophia’s and Celeste’s fan-made billboards.
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