Talk show host Oprah Winfrey concluded her string of extravagant giveaways Monday by giving each member of her show’s studio audience in Chicago the keys to a new car that won’t even be revealed to the general public until next year, NBC Chicago reported.
For her final “Ultimate Favorite Things” giveaway Monday, Winfrey rode onto the set in a Volkswagen Beetle driven by Santa Claus.
“It’s not what you think,” she told the audience. “I wanted to give everyone one of these, but VW said ‘Sorry, Oprah. We can’t give you this Beetle.'”
Winfrey then revealed that everyone in the studio would instead get a new, redesigned Beetle that has yet to be unveiled.
The revamped 2012 Beetle will be revealed to the public in May 2011. Only the outline of the car was shown, but studio audience members each received the keys to their new Beetles.
The live audience also received iPads, designer purses, jewelry boxes and diamond earrings, among other gifts.
On Friday, medics were on standby as Winfrey doled out diamond watches, digital cameras, 3D television sets and Caribbean cruises to every member of the audience.
Winfrey announced last November that this season would be the show’s last. She hinted in August that her final show might be taped at Chicago’s 61,500-seat Soldier Field. She kicked off the final season in September by giving the entire studio audience a 10-day trip to Australia.
After “The Oprah Winfrey Show” ends, Winfrey will run the new Oprah Winfrey Network, which launches on cable television on Jan. 1, 2011.
“This is the last one I will ever do,” Winfrey said of Monday’s giveaway. “And I know this is a Saturday Night Live parody here.”