On her show that aired 13 September in the US, Winfrey surprised the 300-strong studio audience with the news that to celebrate her 25th (and final) season, they would all fly to Australia with her in December 2010. A Qantas plane emerged on stage, complete with John Travolta as its captain.
The ensuing audience reaction was reminiscent of season 19’s opener, in which everyone in the audience received a free car.
The 300 audience members will be part of 'Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure', travelling around Australia before filming two episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show at the Sydney Opera House, dubbed the ‘Oprah House’ by local press. The shows will air in January 2011, in an effort to encourage American visitors to travel for the end of summer in Australia. Tickets for the two episodes’ filming will be given to 6,000 Australians through a ballot on Oprah's website.
Former tourism minister John Brown defended the US$3 million bill, which will be funded jointly by the federal and State government. ''You couldn't possibly quantify the success that you're going to get from this. The publicity that Oprah will bring to Australia, all around the world, is something you couldn't buy,'' he said.
''We've spent hundreds of millions of dollars over 30 years without much effect,'' Brown continued. ''I must say that honestly, no matter who was in government, who was minister, it's not been highly successful. ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ was a AU$180 million absolute disaster.”
The chairman of Tourism Australia, Geoff Dixon, is quoted as saying there was no way of establishing what the financial benefits of the deal would be, but the publicity had already paid back government spending.
“Cheers, mate,” said Winfrey in a pre-recorded statement, "I'll get the accent better by the time I get there.''
