Oprah Winfrey reveals the clever trick she came up with to stop people guessing the prize before iconic 'You get a car!' moment
Published on Sep 09, 2026 at 2:55 PM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Sep 09, 2026 at 2:55 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Ben Thompson
Oprah Winfrey has revealed the clever trick she used to stop people from guessing the prize before her iconic ‘You get a car!’ moment, when every audience member on her show won a Pontiac G6.
Arguably the most famous moment from Winfrey’s career was when she declared that everyone in the audience could get a Pontiac car on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
It has become one of the most talked-about television moments in history, but Winfrey had a trick to ensure the prize wasn’t given away before the iconic moment.
This was something she discussed with Vanity Fair, two decades after the incredible moment.
How did Oprah Winfrey keep the prize a secret?
Cast your mind back to 2004 and you’ll vividly remember the episode of Winfrey’s show in which Pontiac G6s were given out to every audience member.
Those attending the show would get a gift box that contained the keys to the car, but there was a problem with that.
“I remembered in the middle of the night [before the show] that we hadn’t taped the keys down in the boxes,” said Winfrey.
“The first thing you’re going to do is shake the box,” Winfrey said to Vanity Fair.
Shaking the box with keys inside would instantly give away that this was a major prize, and likely to be a car.
Taping the keys down in the boxes ensured nobody knew what was in them.
You would shake the box, and nothing would happen.
It also meant everyone probably didn’t expect to find anything in the box they had.
Winfrey and the team had tricked the audience
It was a clever trick used by Winfrey and her team.
“We’d already given out 11 cars,” she said.
“There was supposedly one car left, and everybody was thinking they were going to be that one person.”
Winfrey also revealed why she started to scream out “You get a car! You get a car!” to those in the audience.
The first woman to see the key was screaming and pointing as if to go, ‘It’s me, it’s me.’
But another woman then started doing the same.
To avoid chaos and pandemonium, Winfrey started shouting that everyone was getting a car.
She had to scream as loud as she could as the audience was going crazy.
Audience members had to pay a fee for the cars
A lesser-known part of the story was that everyone who won a car had to pay something to get the cars.
As they were gifts, the Pontiac G6 cars that were given away were taxed as ordinary income.
In 2004, the gift tax rate was 48 percent.
The show’s producers did pay for the sales tax and registration of the cars for those who got one.
Audience members were also told that if they didn’t want to pay the tax on the cars, they could take a cash prize instead.
The tax that members of the audience had to pay ended up being around $7,000.
Still, it remains one of the most iconic moments in American TV history.
Henry joined the Supercar Blondie team in February 2025, and since then has covered a wide array of topics ranging from EVs, American barn finds, and the odd Cold War jet. He’s combined his passion for cars with his keen interest in motorsport and his side hustle as a volunteer steam locomotive fireman at a heritage steam railway.
