Oprah Winfrey Buys Cars For Studio Audience



Oprah Winfrey's shows are often weepfests, accompanied with soft music as the studio audience is regaled by tales of overcoming past abuse, and today's is no different, but this time the weeping arises out of cheerful mirth. After tipping off local Chicago news outlets that something big was afoot, the 19th season of Oprah Winfrey kicked it in high gear -- literally -- as Oprah gave brand new cars to all 276 members of the studio audience!

Says the AP (link via Drudge):

"'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."

First Anna Karenina for her reading club, now cars for the audience. Wow: Is Stedman giving her some "extra special loving" or what?!

Comment here or on VH1's BWE Blog