CHICAGO (AP) - Talk show host Oprah Winfrey celebrated the premiere of her 19th season Monday 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.

Making sure the audience was kept in suspense, Winfrey opened the show by calling 11 audience members 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 twelfth car. But when the audience members 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 members 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.

One woman stepped up onto the frame of a driver's side door, put her head on the roof and hugged the vehicle.

Winfrey said the audience members were chosen because their friends or family had written to the show 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 almost 400,000 miles on their two vehicles.

In other segments on the show, 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 the house they were renting 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.

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Wow.

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?
damned oprah
now i hate her even more

OMFG!! THAT was her big surprise?!!?!?!? youve gotta be flippin kiddin me!! jeeze!! they made it such a big deal!!! lmao i agree with you janiel lol i hate her even more now

10% of rich americans own 90% of the wealth
Nice of her to give it out to the unfortunate.

And they also pay 50% of the taxes.

thats right and the other 90% of us foot the rest of the bill, plain and simple I wouldnt mind giving 4 million of my 60 million away. But if I was on a fixed income and had to give away 2000 of my 14000 yearly income that would be a big deal.

I think it is great that Oprah is a billionaire. It is a stupid gesture in my opinion. Why not make a huge contribution to a charity? It wouldn't get the attention I guess.

Hey S&A,

When are you going to send me the address to your library so I can send you that book?

tis a sad state when Opra must give away cars to gain fans.



.... I want tickets for her next show

OMG!!! Now why didn't I go to that show?! *kicks self in butt*
Oh yeah, *blush* I wanted to stay home and and watch Jay Leno!
Gee, I wonder what she'll give away next?

Next she will give audience a free island with a 15,000 SQ ft manison equipped with latest technology along with Air Force One.

It could of been a stunt done by pontiac, it's good advertising...

i would just like to that opra didnt pay a single penny towards any of the cars, they were all donated by the car manafacturer! that seemed to slip her mind on the show.

The cars were donated by Pontiac so it didn't cost Oprah a cent.
Credit should be given to Pontiac, However, Would the have done the same if there was no TV coverage ?

of course they wouldn't, this was cheap publicity. but of course if something bad happens relating to the cars given away (i.e. someone runs over someone else with one of the cars they got from oprah) Pontiac is screwed...but this is the chance they take for cheap publicity i guess

It paid off, we are talking about her. Would she get a mention without having to go to crazy?

Then again she has the money. It would be like you or me buying everyone who came to a dinner party a keyring. Even buying that many cars is still nothing to her!

still have to get it joc

Ah, there we go then. Cheaper than an advertising campain, and gets worldwide coverage, rather than just one spot on one counties TV network.

Still, it's pretty impressive!

Not only did Pontiac donate the cars, but Pontiac also paid the taxes.
How about that Oprah, getting all this credit

yeah i heard on the radio that its just a huge marketing schem to sell the G4s but i guess it was nice to give em to people who acutally need cars and not just giving em to anyone.

How do you know everyone in Oprah's audience needed a car?

i could do with a car, any rich talk show hosts on here want to give me a car!!!

joc, Opra's people took all letters from people that were in need and they decided to open the new season with that. Regardless of who gets the credit I though it was great marketing. She actually said several times that they were donated from the manufacture.

I have a lot of respect for her. She came up from nothing and made something of herself. Industry sends free things to famous people all the time for a plug. She's one of the few that just said no to that. She asked that they stop sending her things because she can afford to buy them for herself.

Anyway, a few people got something that they really needed no matter what the reason.

The audience from last weeks show must be crying right now

I love Oprah, she's one of the few celeberties who uses her name for good things, unlike people like Paris Hilton who use their name for rubbish.

Give the credit where it belongs and that NOT Oprah! Pontiac should be praised not Oprah she only used give away to boost her ratings and popularity. I agree how do we know all needed a car?! by the way I have a family of 7 myself wife and our five children we have no car walk to grocery store take bus to work and every other chore most people use a car for we deal with buses or walk. I dont recall getting invite to show! We barely make ends meet and a car could have bettered our lives I could have found better paying work and many other things but now I am off topic. I praise Pontiac NOT Oprah. That is where the REAL praise belongs!

Save yourself the price of a key ring, and just give me the money that the car wouldv'e costed!!