Over six episodes, The Competition takes you behind the scenes of one of America’s most lucrative scholarship programs for high school senior girls. We follow seven girls as they experience the highs and lows of competing against the best and brightest, away from home and under the most high-stress circumstances. What can two weeks with 50 of the country’s most ambitious teens tell us about girlhood in America?

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At the start of the competition, 50 teenage girls, one from each state, gather in Mobile, Alabama, to embark on two of the most intense weeks of their lives. Everybody wants the same thing: to walk away with a $40,000 cash prize and the title of Distinguished Young Woman of America. First impressions are everything and it feels like the first day of school. How will the reps from Tennessee, California, Montana and Colorado handle their new world?

Listen to The Competition on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Competition early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-competition/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s fitness time, baby! Through hours of rehearsals with very few breaks, some girls struggle to keep up with the comically difficult fitness routine. It raises the question, why would accomplished teens—like those from New Mexico, Arizona and Maryland—sign up for this? And, despite their behind-the-scenes aches, do it all with a smile?

Listen to The Competition on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Competition early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-competition/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The pressure mounts as the girls enter talent rehearsals. For the first time, all 50 competitors will practice their solo talents on the big stage for each other. There are no judges yet— it’s just a jury of their peers. But the pressure is crushing. Star singers from California and Colorado are expected to be standouts, while Arizona is worried about just making it through. Who will come out on top?

Listen to The Competition on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Competition early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-competition/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The girls get ready for the most intense job interview they’ve ever had: the 10-minute, rapid-fire judges’ interview. It’s the first and only chance for the judges to get to know the girls on a deeper level, but Shima finds it challenging to break through their professional facades. How will the judges pick a winner? Unexpectedly, the DYW beach party reveals a side of the girls they’ve kept hidden since arrival.

Listen to The Competition on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Competition early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-competition/ now.

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It's time for the semifinals! Spirits are high, and it seems like nothing can break the girls’ cheerful mood. That is, until a controversial ruling from the outside world pops the Mobile bubble. Dividing lines are drawn between the girls, and some find it difficult to proceed as if nothing has happened. The show must go on…but everything has changed.

Listen to The Competition on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Competition early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-competition/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The top eight compete on stage one last time for the title of Distinguished Young Woman. How will the runners-up react to the judges’ decision? After the competition, Shima travels across the country to visit the girls in their first year of college, and discovers how their lives are unfolding after their fateful summer in Mobile.

Listen to The Competition on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Competition early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-competition/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The untold stories behind the products you’re obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who made them go viral. How did Birkenstocks go from a German cobbler’s passion project 250 years ago to a starring role in the Barbie movie? Who created that bottle of Sriracha permanently living in your fridge? Did you know the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA, or that Super Mario became the best-selling video game character ever thanks to a strategy called “The Infinite Game?” On Wondery’s new weekly podcast The Best Idea Yet, Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer (hosts of the award-winning daily pop-business podcast, The Best One Yet aka TBOY) have identified the most viral products of all time and reveal their untold origin stories — plus the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. From the Happy Meal to Levi’s 501 jeans, come for the products you’re obsessed with, stay for the business insights that’ll make you the most interesting person at your next brunch.

Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Wondery.fm/TBIY_IP

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