The second season of So You Think You Can Dance premiered on May 25, 2006, with new host Cat Deeley.
On August 16, Benji Schwimmer was announced as the winner of season 2 and received the grand prize of $100,000, a new hybrid SUV, and a one-year contract with Celine Dion's Las Vegas show, A New Day.... Schwimmer almost did not make the show's top 20 â he was officially first runner-up contestant in case any of the male contestant ran into unforeseen difficulties prior to the start of filming. As it happened, for the second year in a row, Hokuto Konishi was unable to get his visa cleared to work in the U.S. in time for the first taping, and he was cut. Schwimmer took his spot in the Top 20 and fared well from the start, garnering consistent praise from the judges and votes from viewers. Schwimmer and fellow grand finalist Donyelle Jones, who were paired as a couple from the first performance episode, became the fourth contestants in the show's run never to face elimination from being among the bottom six or bottom four contestants, became the second contestants to be in the grand finale, and became the first pair in the show's run never to face elimination from being among the bottom six or bottom four contestants in the grand finale.
Auditions were held in New York City; Los Angeles; Chicago; and Charleston, South Carolina.
One hundred and sixteen contestants were invited for a week of training to the Aladdin hotel (now Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino) in Las Vegas, Nevada. This training included hip-hop choreography taught by Shane Sparks, samba choreography taught by Mary Murphy with assistance from season 1 contestant Artem Chigvinsev, a contemporary routine taught by Mia Michaels, and training from Brian Friedman, who described his choreography as a fusion of jazz and hip-hop. The original group of contestants was eventually whittled down to 41, from which the judges chose their top 20.
The song played after each female contestant's elimination was "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall, whilst that played after each male contestant's elimination was "It's the End of the Road" by Matt Goss.
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Dan Karaty
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Shane Sparks and Mia Michaels
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Olisa Thompson and Cicely Bradley
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Dan Karaty
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Brian Friedman
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Olisa Thompson, Cicely Bradley and Jean-Marc Généreux
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Dan Karaty
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Mia Michaels
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Brian Friedman
Top 4 contestant's solos:
In 2006, the top 10 contestants went on a performance tour (which is the first sytycd tour). Tickets went on sale August 12
<sup>â </sup> Wade Robson and Mia Michaels were joint-winners along with Rob Marshall and John Deluca from Tony Bennett: An American Classic.