Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey (forbes.com)

Oprah Winfrey knows how to make her audience happy, and she definitely knows how to surprise people!

The famous talk-show host kicked off the first show of her 25th and final season on broadcast television by surprising her talk show audience attending the premiere Monday with an all-expenses-paid eight-day trip to Australia.

At the beginning, Winfrey teased the 300 audience members with a suggestion she might take them on a trip to New York, Philadelphia or Los Angeles. And then, she shouted, “Maybe I should take you all with me to the other side of the world. We’re going to Australia!”

The announcement made some audience members clapped, cried and hugged as a mock-up of a Quantas Air Lines jet rolled onto stage. The plane’s door then opened and actor John Travolta, who also flies airplanes, stepped out dressed as a Quantas pilot.

This is not Oprah’s first time doing a super surprise. Six years ago, she opened her 19th season by giving out cars to everyone in her studio audience. Recently, she handed staff members of her “O” Magazine Apple iPads and $10,000 checks. She has also handed out school scholarships, money for homes, and financed a school for girls in South Africa.

Those 300 lucky audience were chosen from sooo many most loyal show’s viewers over the years. And throughout the show, Winfrey introduced audience members, including a man named Larry who received word he’d been invited to the program via a taped message from Winfrey delivered to his house by NASCAR driver Jimmy Johnson.

There were some surprises for Winfrey as well. Actor Don Johnson, who declined to appear on the program when it first aired in 1986 — when he was a much bigger television star than Winfrey — came by to explain he’d wanted to appear but “Miami Vice” bosses wouldn’t let him because he was too busy. “But I understand things have been going OK for you,” he joked to Winfrey.

Winfrey also teared up when another surprise came, an appearance from singer/songwriter Paul Simon, who sang a song he’d written in honor of the show’s 10th season with updated lyrics.

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” is syndicated to 215 domestic stations by CBS Television Distribution and to 145 countries by CBS Studios International. Over the years, Winfrey has interviewed a host of celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise, who’s famous for his couch-jumping moment.

While Monday’s season premiere is the beginning of the end of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” it’s not the end of Winfrey. She’s set to launch her Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN, on cable Jan. 1. The end of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will be featured on that network with “Behind the Scenes: Oprah’s 25th Season,” a one-hour series giving viewers a look at the making of the last season of Winfrey’s talk show.

We won’t say goodbye yet. May you have the best last season ever, Oprah!

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