Brain Game: Standing on the Podium

We hope you aren't too sleepy from watching the Olympics to enjoy today's mentalfloss.com Brain Game Wednesday Wordplay challenge. Good luck:

By changing one letter in each step to form English words, and leaving all other letters in their original positions, convert EARNS into MEDAL in the fewest possible steps.

E A R N S _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M E D A L

Here is an 8-step SOLUTION.

A 8-STEP SOLUTION:

E A R N S
B A R N S
B A R E S
B O R E S
B O D E S
M O D E S
M O D E L
M O D A L
M E D A L

Did you come up with a different sequence of words? Feel free to share your solution with us in the comments below. Thanks for playing!