{"id":521702,"date":"2026-03-13T19:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T19:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/521702\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T19:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T19:18:10","slug":"producer-who-worked-on-oprah-winfreys-8000000-you-get-a-car-giveaway-shares-the-devastating-reality-winners-faced-once-the-cameras-were-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/521702\/","title":{"rendered":"Producer who worked on Oprah Winfrey’s $8,000,000 ‘you get a car’ giveaway shares the ‘devastating’ reality winners faced once the cameras were off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oprah Winfrey once hosted a now-iconic and viral $8 million car<\/a> giveaway on her show that came with a caveat most people didn\u2019t learn about until recently.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen all the memes, we all know the famous \u2018You get a car\u2019 episode of\u00a0The Oprah Winfrey Show.<\/p>\n

However, what happened when the cameras stopped rolling was a little bit more complex.<\/p>\n

And now a producer on the show has provided more details about the unexpected fallout from the\u00a0Pontiac G6\u00a0bonanza.<\/p>\n

Click the star icon next to\u00a0supercarblondie.com<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Google Search<\/a>\u00a0to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest supercars, hypercars, and ground-breaking technology<\/p>\n

Oprah Winfrey \u2018accidentally\u2019 created one of the most viral moments in TV history<\/p>\n

In 2004, Oprah Winfrey created the iconic \u2018You get a car\u2019 moment almost by accident<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But while the legendary tagline may have been \u2018accidental\u2019, the giveaway had been thoroughly planned.<\/p>\n

Even so, the production team ran into an unforeseen issue.<\/p>\n

As revealed on a podcast titled Making Oprah: The inside story of a TV revolution<\/a>, the concept for the giveaway was started by\u00a0Oprah Winfrey\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0best friend, Gayle King.<\/p>\n

\"Oprah<\/a>The Oprah Winfrey Show<\/p>\n

Initially, Pontiac<\/a> offered 25\u00a0cars\u00a0for the show as a giveaway.<\/p>\n

But the producers pushed the company to give a new Pontiac G6 to every member of the studio audience.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 276 cars, worth about $7.7 million in total at the time of the show.<\/p>\n

When audience members were told they\u2019d get a free car, they were ecstatic, but there was something else they hadn\u2019t been told yet.<\/p>\n

How this Pontiac G6 giveaway backfired<\/p>\n

Because the Pontiacs were gifts, they were taxed as ordinary income, and this also meant the gift tax had to be paid by the person receiving the gift.<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s producers, to their credit, paid for the sales tax and registration of the car, but obviously, they couldn\u2019t pay everyone else\u2019s taxes.<\/p>\n

\"Oprah<\/a>The Oprah Winfrey Show<\/p>\n

Speaking on the podcast, looking back on the show, producer Lisa Erspamer reflected on the backlash.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was devastating after, because \u2018gift tax\u2019 is a thing, and it\u2019s always a complicated thing when you\u2019re giving stuff away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we paid for the sales tax and the registration for each car, and we told the audience after, if they didn\u2019t want to have to pay a gift tax, they could actually take cash for the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because we didn\u2019t pay the gift tax, people complained to the press<\/a>, and that was devastating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put our whole soul into this moment of television and with real intention to do something good, and so when people had a negative reaction, it literally hurt our feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Oprah<\/a>The Oprah Winfrey Show<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t put the producers off recreating the same marketing stunt years later, in 2010, when audience members received a Volkswagen Beetle.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0Oprah even gave the winners some sage words along with their new set of wheels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the years since, the TV moment has lived on in infamy \u2013 with\u00a0Cynthia Erivo even referencing it last year while hosting the Tony Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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