Oprah explains iconic ‘You get a car!’ moment

CEBU, Philippines - Eleven years later, Oprah Winfrey’s “You get a car!” moment is one of the most quoted phrases of television history. Now, the media mogul is dishing about what prompted the joyful outburst.

In The Oprah Show’s unforgettable free-car giveaway episode, which originally aired on September 13, 2004, the audience was led to believe that only one of them would win a brand-new Pontiac G6. Staff members then handed each audience member a box, telling them that one of the boxes would have the key to the free car. When they each opened their boxes and found that there were keys in all of them, no one knew what to think.

“I was saying that because people were screaming so loudly they didn’t know what was going on,” Oprah said. “Prior to that moment, I had said, ‘Open up your boxes. One person has a key.’ So when I looked at the faces of the audience, they go, ‘But I have a key…but she has a key,’ so that’s why I said, ‘You get a car! You get a car!’ to try to clarify, because they all looked so confused. Everybody gets a car!”

Oprah declared the phrase, “You get a car,” 11 times, as the audience erupted in pandemonium, and with good reason. Prior to the show taping, Oprah told producers to fill the crowd with people who “desperately needed” cars.

The 276 sedans given out that day, each worth approximately $28,500, were donated by Pontiac.

A couple months later, the Queen of  Talk hosted a giveaway episode specifically for teachers. The educators, who came from around the country, received gifts including TV sets, laptops, washer/dryers, champagne and checks for $2,500.

Once a poor girl from Mississippi, Oprah climbed up through the ranks of broadcast television, and now sits at the head of an empire.