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.
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.
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 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.
After the first three contestants read their highlights, an intermission took place, in which a new game called "Get Off the Fence" was introduced.
Horowitz was up first and was presented with a list of top 5 catches, which included a fish being caught at the Bassmaster Classic.
Holmes then took his turn, having the top 5 blocks for his segment, with the top block being an incredible knockaway by Detroit Pistons star Tayshaun Prince on Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller in game one of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals.
The in-between game was "Fact or Fiction", a regular segment on the real SportsCenter, in which an anchor throws out a topic with an opinion attached to it, and two analysts debate (or even agree) on what they think.
The contestants were split into three pairs like the previous week, and were given two topics each, ranging from "Oscar De La Hoya should retire" to "The U.S. will win the Ryder Cup in 2006."
The twist here was at the end of their segment, after a couple of highlight readings and a news story, the pairs would interview a player from a Major League Baseball team.
Ashworth and Startare were next to go, and they conducted their interview with Chicago Cubs pitcher Kent Mercker.
Wendy's Wild Card winners Holmes and James were next, and their interviewee was Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins.
Following Holmes and James was the debut of a new segment featuring real SportsCenter anchors giving advice to the remaining contestants, titled "U.S. Air Force Wingman."
The last pair was Thompson and Bell, whose interviewee was Houston Astros catcher Brad Ausmus.
Airing on Tuesday, November 16, 2004, both Holmes and Thompson knew that no mistake would be minor, and that one small error could cost their chance at becoming the anchor.
The night opened with Holmes and Thompson going head-to-head in a debate game called "Pardon the Interruption", exactly like the ESPN talk show of the same name.
The segment dealt with topics such as Barry Bonds winning his seventh National League Most Valuable Player award, and New York City's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Thompson and Holmes were also told just minutes before their segment that they would be interviewing the New England Patriots' Willie McGinest.
Later on SportsCenter that night, Holmes was given trivia questions to try to see how much money he would make in his first year as an ESPN employee.