US woman given free car by Oprah Winfrey shares what the host told her as soon as the cameras were off

A woman who was given a free VW Beetle on The Oprah Winfrey Show has shared what the TV personality told her once the cameras were off, and it’s not what we were expecting.

Most people are probably familiar with the giveaways that Oprah hosted on her show.

On more than one occasion, cars were handed out.

One lucky recipient has opened up about the time she received a Volkswagen Beetle in 2010, and it might surprise you.

The ‘You get a car!’ catchphrase actually started by accident

The ‘You get a car!’ catchphrase came from a 2004 episode of her show where she gave out free Pontiac G6s.

But it all started almost by accident.

During Season 19 of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the TV star came up with a tagline that’s still a memeable moment to this day.

“You get a car! Everybody gets a car!” she said.

Everything else had been thoroughly arranged, obviously, but the tagline was completely spontaneous.

Audience members initially thought one of them would go home with a Pontiac G6 – worth about $28,500 at the time – because that’s what they’d been told.

But then they realized that each member of the audience had been given a box and each box had a key in it.

That’s why Oprah came up with the iconic catchphrase, and that’s also why audience members were genuinely surprised.

This is what Oprah told one of the recipients after the show

The show ran several giveaways.

They did a couple with Pontiacs, and they also did one with VW Beetles.

One VW Beetle recipient who was in the audience, Candi Davis, took to TikTok to share her memories of the day.

“I was in the audience of the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2010, when she gave away the Volkswagen Beetles for Christmas,” she told her followers.

“It was a crazy, crazy day.”

@alwayscandid Oprah car give away story time 🚘 #oprahsfavoritethings #oprahcargiveaway #oprahsfavoritethings2010 #vwbeetle ♬ original sound – AlwaysCandid

“She kicked off her gold high-heeled shoes, sat down on the edge of the stage, and talked to all of us,” Candi recalled.

Candi also said that some people were confused, and they weren’t sure whether to keep the car or sell it.

And that’s when Oprah intervened.

“There were a lot of people saying, ‘I should sell my car and give the money to my kids’,” Candi recalled.

“[But then Oprah] said, ‘I know you don’t feel like you deserve any of this stuff, and if you feel like you don’t deserve this, that’s valid. But I want you to feel worthy of it. I want you to accept it. I want you to leave here with the car and not feel bad. Release any guilt you feel about being gifted this car.”

This particular giveaway took place in 2010, which means that, by now, many of those cars may have already met their fate at the crusher.