Help the event planner complete her notes about the chaotic family reunion by choosing the correct words for each blank.

To avoid any drama, the planner seated all the mothers-in-law at a separate table, far away from the two runners-up of last year's pie-eating contest.

To avoid any drama, the planner seated all the mothers-in-law at a separate table...

When pluralizing a hyphenated compound noun, we add the plural "-s" to the principal word (the "head noun"). Since they are mothers, it becomes mothers-in-law.

...far away from the two runners-up of last year's pie-eating contest.

Similarly, the head noun here is "runner," so we pluralize it as runners-up, not runner-ups.