Dream Job (Season 2)

The second season of "Dream Job", the ESPN American reality television show that searches for new on-air talent for the network, began on Tuesday, September 14, 2004. Like the show's first season, this edition was also looking for a new anchor for "SportsCenter". A talent search for the show had begun in late June, 2004. ESPN anchor Stuart Scott returned to host the new season.

Judges

The show's judging panel had changes. Gone were first season judges Tony Kornheiser and LaVar Arrington, who had begun play for the Washington Redskins in the 2004-2005 NFL season. Kornheiser and Arrington were replaced by "Cold Pizza" contributor and "Around the Horn" panelist Woody Paige, and ESPN NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith. "Cold Pizza" co-host Kit Hoover and ESPN Vice-President of Talent, Al Jaffe, returned for the second season.

Unlike the judging panel, the voting for season two did not change. The viewing public still had one vote (which was given to the contestant who had received the highest number of votes from online voting and text messaging) to cut a contestant with. In the first two episodes, the judges were given one vote apiece to vote for a contestant to be cut, with two given to them for the third episode only, making episodes 4-10 also one-cut-apiece shows.

Contestants

Like the first two episodes of season one, the contestants were introduced in 2 groups of six. In episode one, the competing contestants were Valerie Hawrylko, a 31-year-old management consultant from Oakton, Virginia; Brian Startare, a 33-year-old health care management worker from Glassboro, New Jersey; Anish Shroff, a 22-year-old radio anchor who has recently graduated from Syracuse University; Grant Thompson, a 28-year-old writer and actor from Los Angeles; Joe Voyticky, a 37-year-old attorney from Brooklyn, New York; and K.C. James, a 44-year-old account executive from Los Angeles. James had won the Wendy's Wild Card Contest to gain entry onto the show.

The next group of six was introduced in episode two, and, for the first time, featured a second Wendy's Wild Card winner. Episode two's competitors were Jason Ashworth, a 23-year-old assistant tour manager from New Freedom, Pennsylvania; Winston Bell, a 35-year-old banker from Cleveland; Jason Horowitz, a 21-year-old student at Syracuse University who originally hails from West Bloomfield, Michigan; Stephanie Rich, a 35-year-old travel coordinator from Arlington, Texas; Whitney Scott, a 24-year-old sports information assistant from Lockwood, Missouri; and David Holmes, the second Wendy's Wild Card winner, a 22-year-old student at Kent State University from Uniontown, Ohio.

Episodes

Episode One

Like the first season, the first two episodes of the second season began with the main game being "My "SportsCenter", and like the series premiere on February 22, 2004, each of the six contestants competing in the first episode of season two read two "SportsCenter" highlights, most of them being from sporting events from the past weekend. Thompson went first, and was criticized for being too "schtick" and comedic. James went next, paused twice during his highlight readings, and was criticised for the pauses. Shroff went third and made some mistakes, but was praised for being professional by all four judges.

After the first three contestants read their highlights, an intermission took place, in which a new game called "Get Off the Fence" was introduced. In this game, the contestants were split into three pairs. Each contestant was given a current sports issue which was to be debated by both contestants. Each pair was given two issues apiece. Hawrylko was said to be the best debater by all the judges, while Startare was called the worst. Smith even said he could see Startare sweat during the debate.

When "My "SportsCenter" resumed, Voyticky read his highlights. He criticised for being boring and lacking energy. Hawrylko went next, and while she was praised for her debating, she was criticized for trying to tell too many jokes during her highlight readings. Startare was last to go, and Paige called him "brutal." All six were criticized for using too many clichés.

Voting

The decision to cut James was unanimous. Hawrylko's elimination kept both Wendy's Wild Card Winners from being cut on the same night, as America's decision to cut her broke the tie between her and Holmes.

Episodes four through eight

David Holmes won season 2 of Dream Job.

Later on "SportsCenter" that night, Holmes was given trivia questions to try and see how much money he would make in his first year as an ESPN employee. He started out at $60,000, with each correct answer being worth $5,000 apiece. He got as high as the $75,000 question, which he got wrong, bumping his first-year salary back to $70,000. Holmes was also awarded with a brand-new Mazda 6 5-door car.

(*)"The asterisk is placed next to Jaffe because America's vote was read before the judges' votes were given, so when Smith said he voted to cut Thompson, Scott said, "We don't need to go on", and Thompson was immediately sent off, but not before hugging Holmes. Scott eventually turned to Jaffe, who said that if his vote had been necessary, he would also have cut Thompson."

External links

* [http://espn.iliad.com/index.html "Dream Job II" official website]
* [http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/entertainment/10202425.htm?1c "Akron Beacon Journal" article on Holmes' win]