http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw104116_20040913.htm Oprah Winfrey surprises audience with new cars September 13, 2004, 1:45 PM CHICAGO (AP) -- Oprah Winfrey celebrated the premiere of her 19th season by surprising each of her 276 audience members with a new car. "We're calling this our wildest dream season, because this year on the Oprah show, no dream is too wild, no surprise too impossible to pull off," Winfrey said on the show that aired Monday. Winfrey said the audience members were chosen because their friends or family had written about their need for a new car. One woman's young son said she drove a car that "looks like she got into a gunfight." Another couple had nearly 400,000 miles on their two vehicles. Making sure the audience was kept in suspense, Winfrey opened the show by calling 11 people onto the stage. She gave each of them a car -- a Pontiac G6. She then had gift boxes distributed to the rest of the audience and said one of the boxes contained keys to a 12th car. But when everyone opened the boxes, each had a set of keys. "Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!" Winfrey yelled as she jumped up and down on the stage. The audience screamed, cried and hugged each other -- then followed Winfrey out to the parking lot of her Harpo Studios to see their Pontiacs, all decorated with giant red bows. The cars, which retail for $28,000, were donated by Pontiac. "A little idea grew into a big idea," Mary Henige of Pontiac said. She added that Pontiac will pay for the taxes and the customizing of the cars. In other segments on the show, taped Thursday, Winfrey surprised a 20-year-old girl who had spent years in foster care and homeless shelters with a four-year college scholarship, a makeover and $10,000 in clothes. And a family with eight foster children who were going to be kicked out of their house were given $130,000 to buy and repair the home. "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which debuted in 1986, is syndicated to 212 domestic markets and 109 countries.
Man, those are some lucky folks. I wish my mom watched Oprah and then wrote to her about how I need a car.
The hell they don't. For her Christmas episode a couple years back, they gave out personal DVD players, Playstations, digital cameras and gift certificates to Home Depot. I've seen her give guys motorcycles, boats, new wardrobes, you name it. Obviously, her audience is primarily female meaning she is going to give out more female oriented stuff, but no question guys get stuff too.
Chip Foose is my Oprah. I wish he would give away an overhaul job on my car. http://www.chipfoose.com/
I tuned in the last 15 minutes to see the car giveaway-- but it was over. She had done it earlier. I saw her give away some other stuff though...
I think that is very generous, but if they were donated by Pontiac, then not so much...However, i do applaud her doing things like this on her show, albeit, on behafl of her company, not necessarily from her own pocket (the company gets to write-off any expenses)... Although I do hear she is quite generous and if I made that kind of cash, I'd be doing the same thing, giving to the less fortunate...
Great gifts, but I didn't see any men in the audience today. Today reminded me of one of SNL's greatest skits from last season. Anyone else see the Oprah skit?
There's just too much estrogen infused into the Oprah show. I swear, everytime I've finished watching one of her shows, I feel a little too effeminate for my own liking.
I think what she did for the girl who was basically homeless and put herself through school as well as the foster family who was about to lose their house was amazing. I wish more people did that and we got to see it. I wish I was rich so I could do the same.
The beginning when they gave away the cars??? When they called the first guy down? And then there were a few others in the audience when they panned across it?
Yeah, I wondered that myself. Half of the stories they told of people who needed the guitars were wives or girlfriends sending in video tapes for their husbands/boyfriends who needed new cars. One guy was a teacher whose students sent one in for him.
