Oprah Winfrey has spent decades
showering her audiences with lavish gifts and with this being her final season
on the air, Winfrey is going out in grand fashion. Part of the plan was to
unveil Oprah's favorite things for 2010 this past week on her show. In most
cases, Oprah has been sensitive to the wants of her audience, but over the
years, the one group of people she has ignored in these giveaway shows is
online poker players. Millions of online gamblers have walked through the
studio doors for Oprah's show, but none have ever left with a gift involving
their favorite hobby.
This year was no different. The
audience received many different gifts, ranging from low priced gadgets, to
high priced luxury cruises. Watches and jewelry are always found on Oprah's
favorite things list, and this year was no different. A Phillip Stein limited
edition with fifty-eight handset diamonds priced at $2,475 was on the list.
Royal Caribbean unveiled the
world's biggest cruise ship this year, the Allure of the Seas. Oprah took full
advantage of promoting the ship by giving audience members a one week vacation
aboard the ship. A Sony Bravia and a five-year Netflix membership were other
gifts that were handed out.
Oprah is also known for promoting
books through her giveaways and this year, A Course in Weight Loss was one of
the chosen gifts. For the photography savvy audience members, a Nikon e3100
Digital SLR camera was handed out. Ralph Lauren was represented with a Cashmere
sweater and throw worth $498.
With this being the last year of
the Oprah Winfrey Show, online poker players will have to come to the
realization that Oprah has never found the game of poker to be among her
favorite things. Not that any of the audience members in attendance should be
complaining anytime soon.
About Oprah Winfrey: Oprah Winfrey's first name was supposed to be
Orpah, after Ruth's sister-in-law in the Bible, but it was misspelled Oprah on
her birth certificate. The name remains. Leaving her grandmother's home in
Mississippi, Winfrey splits her time between her mother, Vernita, in Milwaukee,
Wis., and her father, Vernon, in Nashville, Tenn. She is raped and abused by
family friends in Milwaukee. Winfrey moves to Nashville permanently in 1968,
secretly pregnant at 14. Her father, a strict disciplinarian, helps her rebuild
her life when her week-old baby dies.
After an eight-year stint
cohosting a local morning show in Baltimore, Md., a 29-year-old Winfrey cohosts
the talk show AM Chicago, which she eventually takes over. Within months
she beats the top-rated Phil Donahue Show
in viewership and AM Chicago is renamed The
Oprah
Winfrey
Show. Oprah Winfrey also launches O, the Oprah Magazine.
After discord arises among the editing staff, Winfrey flies them all to her
home in Miami.