Ruben Studdard emerged as the winner, beating Clay Aiken by a small margin. Out of a total of 24 million votes, Studdard finished just 134,000 votes ahead of Aiken. This slim margin of victory was controversial due to the large number of calls that failed to get through. In an interview prior to season five, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe indicated that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wildcard week onward until the finale. COUNT 10
QSN1 Who was the season two winner of American Idol? ANS1 Ruben Studdard QSN2 How many votes were cast during the final week? ANS2 24 million QSN3 Who was the runner up on season two of American Idol? ANS3 Clay Aiken QSN4 How many votes did Ruben Studdard win by? ANS4 134,000 QSN5 What was the name of the shows executive producer? ANS5 Nigel Lythgoe QSN6 Who won season two? ANS6 Ruben Studdard QSN7 Who was the runner up for season two? ANS7 Clay Aiken QSN8 How many more votes did Studdard have at the finale? ANS8 134,000 QSN9 How many votes were cast for the finale? ANS9 24 million QSN10 Who did Nigel Lythgoe say was a fan favorite for the majority of the season? ANS10 Clay Aiken