The second season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2003 and continued until May 20, 2003. It was won by Ruben Studdard. The format changed slightly in Season 2; instead of three groups of 10, the semi-finalists were grouped into four groups of 8.
Auditions
Auditions were held in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, Atlanta, Nashville, and Austin in the fall of 2002.
Finals
In season two, Seacrest surfaced as the lone host, since Dunkleman reportedly hated working on the show, and the studio was dissatisfied with his performance.
This time, Ruben Studdard emerged as the winner with Clay Aiken as runner-up. Out of 24 million votes cast, Studdard finished just 130,000 votes ahead of Aiken, although there remains controversy over the validity of the reported results. In an interview prior to the start of the fifth season, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed for the first time that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wild card week onward until the finale. Despite Studdard's win, Aiken has enjoyed more widespread popularity, emerging as the season's true breakout star.
The rumor mills were buzzing once again in 2005 when Season Two contestant Corey Clark, who was himself kicked off the show because of a police record he had not disclosed to the show, alleged that he had had an affair with judge Paula Abdul. Clark also alleged that Abdul gave him preferential treatment on the show because of their alleged romance. A subsequent investigation by Fox found no evidence to support Clark's charges.
