Oprah Gives Her Audience A New Car Each

The Scotsman ^ | 9/13/04 | Unkown

[Feiny]

Chat show queen Oprah Winfrey celebrated the opening of her 19th season on US TV today 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 car parking of her Harpo Studios in Chicago to see their Pontiacs, all decorated with giant red bows.

The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac.

“A little idea grew into a big idea,” said Mary Henige of Pontiac

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 £6,000 in clothes. And a family with eight foster children who were going to be kicked out of their house were given £72,000 to buy and repair the home.

The Oprah Winfrey Show is syndicated to 212 domestic markets and 109 countries.

[VoiceOfBruck]

She gave each of them a car – a Pontiac G6.

Make up your mind. Did she give them a Pontiac G6 or a car?

Just kidding, that was extraordinarily generous.

But what does this mean?

The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac

[.38sw]

Ok, now I see the line where they were donated by Pontiac, not paid for by Oprah. Nevertheless, generous. As you pointed out, they will need to pay for insurance, registration and upkeep.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Sure she's generous. But it wasn't her money or her cars to give. She just gave out the boxes with the keys.

The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac.

[blanknoone]

This didn't come out of her pocket, she convinced pontiac to donate them for the publicity. It actually makes a lot of sense...you'd have to give me a car to listen to her drivel. It is appropriate that her program is reduced to a game show.

[reflecting]

The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac

Not her $$$$

[Finalapproach29er]

Big deal. She's a BILLIONARE for pete's sake!

Its like you or me dropping $400 on drinks for everyone at a bar. Hardly a monumental sacrifice.

Typical made-for-TV stunt. Ratings alone will pay for this.

[Casloy]

The audience members screamed, cried and hugged each other

Would have loved to see her offer to take back each car from the audience in exchange for one years tuition for a poor college student, or to provide medical care for a poor family. Now that would be entertainment.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac.

Oprah's not out any money. And the audience members, being poor to start with, may not be able to afford the gift taxes, property taxes, etc.

[stevio]

I'm not a fan, but that is real cool.

[gunnygail]

Make sure you recipients of those cars PAY THE TAX on 15 April 2005.

[.38sw]

Ooh. Another question. Do the receipients now have to pay gift taxes on the cars? Income tax on the value of the car?

[brewcrew]

We need legislation now to prevent further gratuitous distribution of lower-priced automobiles to talk show audience members. This type of degrading philanthropy causes sinking self-esteem in the recipient.

Talk show hosts must only be allowed to give away top of the line automobiles from now on. Just say NO to cheap wheels!

[Aggie Mama]

Well, they had advertising much cheaper and longer than a 30 second ad would cost on her show.

[netmilsmom]

>>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 £6,000 in clothes. And a family with eight foster children who were going to be kicked out of their house were given £72,000 to buy and repair the home. <<

This.

[tcostell]

Personally I think this is great. She didn't use her influence with the government to make the taxpayers buy her audience cars, she went to the companies and convinced them that it would be a good move for them. In turn she used her influnece in major media to make it worth their while.

I say, Good for Oprah.

This whole deal is classy.

[skip_intro]

Ooh. Another question. Do the receipients now have to pay gift taxes on the cars? Income tax on the value of the car?

Of course they do.

[Taliesan]

It looks like Pontiac "donated" the cars, but somebody had to talk them into it.

Kudos to Oprah. Her politics is wacko and her tear-laden show is hard to swallow at times, but she enjoys personally helping poor people and spends her own money and influence doing it. Good for her.

I don't agree with her occasional sermons, but she at least earns the right to preach by practicing first.

[television is just wrong]

Hey, where the heck was I???

[sep699]

It does not matter who paid for the cars, Oprah pulled it together. She is a very kind person and this was a class act.

[Feiny]

Wow, you are cruel....now some sicko will propose that as a new reality show.