Main article: American Idol (Season 2)
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. Kristin Holt was a special correspondent. This time, Ruben Studdard emerged as the winner with Clay Aiken as runner-up. Out of 24 million votes recorded, Studdard finished just 130,000 votes ahead of Aiken, although there remains controversy over the accuracy of the reported results. There was much discussion in the communication industry about the phone system being overloaded, and that more than 150 Million votes were dropped, making the voting invalid. Since then the voting methods have been modified to avoid this problem. 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 victory, Aiken has enjoyed more widespread popularity, emerging as one of the season's true breakout stars. Ruben's next album is rumored to be released in 2006. Kimberley Locke has also enjoyed radio success after American Idol, with her debut album, "One Love". Her next album is also rumored to be released in 2006.
Fourth-place finisher and former Marine Josh Gracin has had some success as a country artist, signing with Lyric Street Records, and his first album spawned three hit singles, including a number one song, "Nothing to Lose".
During the course of the contest Ruben became known for wearing 205 Flava jerseys representing his area code. Shortly after the end of the contest, Ruben sued 205 Flava, Inc for $2 million for using his image for promotional purposes. Flava responded by alleging that Ruben had accepted over $10,000 in return for wearing 205 shirts, and produced 8 cashed checks to validate their claim. The allegations, if true, indicate a clear violation of the American Idol rules. The lawsuit was settled out of court.
The rumor mills were buzzing once again in 2005 when Season Two contestant Corey Clark, who was kicked off the show because of a police record he had not disclosed earlier, alleged that he 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.
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