Oprah Winfrey
Jade Small
Jade Small
February 11, 2024 ·  3 min read

Woman who won free car on Oprah Winfrey Show shares advice host gave her off camera after win

Oprah Winfrey is one of those celebrities that someone will always mention when asked which celebrity they would like to meet someday. She has made such a positive impact on the world that she will not soon be forgotten. Neither will one particular episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. Those who were part of the audience during that show were clearly in the right place at the right time, as Oprah decided to gift them all VW beetles. Yes, that’s right, they all went home with a brand-new car!

Winning a Car in the Oprah Winfrey Show

The Oprah Winfrey Show is notorious for the audience to win all kinds of gifts. On one episode in 2010, a woman won a car and was one of the lucky people on the show. The Chicago-based Candi Davis has now gone viral on her TikTok account for sharing Oprah’s words with the audience after the cameras were shut down. Candi said on her TikTok post: “I was in the audience of the Oprah Winfrey Show, when she gave away the Volkswagen Beetles for Christmas. It was a crazy, crazy day.”

None of you deserve it, but you are worthy
Image credit: TikTok

After that Oprah Winfrey Show ended, Oprah reportedly sat down on the couch on stage, and kicked off her gold high heels. The audience was now waiting for their turn to speak to a lawyer because Oprah was going to pay their taxes for all their winnings. Candi explained that Oprah said: “She kicked off her gold high heels shoes, sat down on the edge of the stage and talked to all of us. She said, ‘I know you don’t feel like you deserve any of this stuff, and you don’t’.” Then, Oprah allegedly added: “None of you deserve it. But you are worthy of it, and I want you to remember that.”

None of you deserve it, but you are worthy
Image credit: TikTok

Candi said that some thought this was “the best” part of the show. But, for Candi, winning the car made it so spectacular. Most people in the comments section were amazed at her luck. Generally, the comments applauded Oprah for actually covering the taxes. Most people assumed the winners were liable for the taxes on the winnings from the Oprah Winfrey Show. However, some people thought her comments to the audience when the cameras switched off her “backhanded compliments. One person said: “‘None of you deserve it, but you’re worthy’… kind of sounds like a back-handed compliment.”

Oprah’s You Get a Car Meme is Explained

Oprah seems to make a habit out of giving away cars on her show. In 2004, a meme came out that was only later explained. It showed Oprah Winfrey in a red suit with her arms open wide. The text on the image reads: “You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!”

Oprah Winfrey Show
Image credit: Kapwing

This meme originates from a particular episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004, where she gifted everyone in the audience a brand-new Pontiac G-6 sedans. That’s right, a brand-new car. This brief moment on live television was a screenshot and has come back to Oprah time and time again. It has become a joke of some sort, one that most people will not forget easily. Now, for the first time ever, Oprah Winfrey has revealed how that meme came to be and where the phrase came from.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Oprah Winfrey said: “I was saying that because people were screaming so loudly they didn’t know what was going on. 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!”

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Sources

  1. Woman who won free car on Oprah Winfrey show shares advice host gave her off camera after win.Unilad. Rhiannon Ingle. May 20, 2023.
  2. Oprah finally explains the story behind the much laughed at ‘You get a car’ moment.” News. November 20, 2015.