I just caught the last few minutes. Approximately $13,500 what each person got in prizes. wow.

Jannie, you mean she's giving away more on Monday? The audience thought they were going to see a show on meditation. Boy, no wonder they looked so joyful! So much stuff!

yes mondays show is apparently people who were waiting to get into the fri taped show and did not get in. in the trailer i saw, they were put on a bus for some reason and you can tell the disappointment in their faces that they were not getting into a taping of oprah :-( LOVED fri's show, so glad she honors people who give in their communities w/ gifts. i can't wait for mon. show! ~ liz

I watched also and when I saw the Oprah shirts, I thought they would be a great gifts for my sisters. They are big Oprah fans. I went to her website and ordered 3 shirts, 2 X-mas ornaments and 2 baseball caps. It said free shipping for orders over $75.00 and my order came to $172.00. When I entered my mailing address, it came up that shipping to Canada was standard $45.00. I thought that was way too much for shipping, so I ended up cancelling my order. I'm very disappointed as I really wanted to get them for my sisters.

I've never seen a "favorite things" Oprah give away show.....I watched Friday's show.....WOW! Thanks for reminding me to watch Monday. That was fun seeing all those people sooooooooo excited...:0)

Do they have to pay gift or income tax on that stuff? I know when my sister won a cruise, it was considered income.

I'm sure they have to pay tax on what they got.

I have a question; I noticed that some of the people at the show were there with their spouse or partner. Do EACH of these people get all the gifts? If so some of the couples would end up with 2 TVs, watches, and cruises.

The do pay taxes. Do you remember when she gave away 275 Pontiacs. GM paid for local and state taxes but the winners had to pay the federal taxes. It was counted as income and depending on your tax bracket the tax could have been as high as 5 to 7,000. The winners were given three choices - don't take the car, take the car and pay the taxes or sell the car, pay the taxes and keep the rest.

happilady....Oprah kept saying you "all" are getting one! So everyone there got one of each item. So yes....a couple would each get one cruise, 2 for the household....so they could go together. In the case of the TV's...2 for their one household! I thought the same thing when I watched it.

But....out of all the stuff they gave away.....Did you see anything ya all wanted?

I didn't see much I would've REALLY wanted...except maybe a cashmere sweater!! mmmmmm.....the softness...........

I watched, too. That's the first time I've watched a "Favorite Things" episode as well. I would've most liked the Nike shoes, the brownie and lasagne pans, and the 5 year netflix membership!

Oprah is not paying for these gifts out of pocket. The sponsors are paying for them. She takes all the credit for it of course. That is Oprah being Oprah.She certainly could pay for them all herself and that is what many folks believe she is doing, but it's not.

My BIL once one a car (not from Oprah). He had to sell it to pay the income tax on it. Yes, these things are "income".

Yeah, for sure, Oprah herself doesn't pay for the gifts. Notice each manufacturer got a big plug from her? "From our friends at United Airlines" for example. Our friends?

Similar as when her debut show this year. Everyone gets to go to Australia. John Travolta is the pilot, and the Australian tourism or something paid for everyone's trip. Not Oprah, that's for sure.

There was a big hub-hub with her car giveaway. A lot of the people were so poor they didn't have a car. So they have a car, and now have to pay the taxes, which was out of their financial reach. So they ended up with nothing afterall.

A little off-topic, but I've read where the House Makeover show, builds a house for so many financially poor people that they can't afford to pay the taxes and upkeep and they lose it.

jasdip - that happened to the Marrero family in a town in the next county. The father finally had to give up the house - he couldn't even afford the monthly utility bills. I read all the coverage in the local paper and it just amazed me that they would build such an elaborate home in a really poor neighborhood and give it to a family that couldn't afford it.

I can't vouch for all the other families mentioned in this link but it wouldn't surprise me if all the stories were factual.

Here is a link that might be useful: Extreme Makeover

During Oprah's "Cargate" episode, Pontiac ended up paying the sales tax, but yeah, state/federal taxes were the audience members' responsibility if they chose to keep the car. I'm sure that Pontiac (is that a GM brand?) was able to find a way to deduct the cost of all the cars during tax season-- giving to the less-fortunate!

This time, it's being reported that Oprah is paying the taxes related to the Australia trip. Don't know if she's also going to pay for the cruise taxes.

There were some nice things on Friday's show, but if I had to balance them with the tax repercussions, well, I might have said "thanks, but no thanks."

I liked the 5-year Netflix subscription, the Nikon SLR digital camera, the big TV,. That was pretty much it.

The brownie/lasagne pan that kind of zigzags around to give you more servings that are "edge" servings? It's like $25 in so many catalogs and stores now. Not anything unusual.

The watches, bag and shoes that have patterns created especially for Oprah's 25th anniversary? Pass.

(OH! But I love the Container Store Elfa closet organizers. I have one hall closet Elfa'd, so that $1000 could do all my closets!)

But I'll be watching Monday to see what else she has in store!

I wonder if there aew people outside the studio waiting to buy the stuff

If Oprah pays the taxes on the Australia trip then won't the people have to pay taxes on the amount she spent to pay the taxes?

It was a very uplifting show.

happyladi, no they would not, lol, besides that everyone is allowed $13,000 cash tax free as a gift ea yr so even if there was a double tax it could probably be claimed under the gift exemption.

it was a very upliftng show! i would like the TV, cruise, cashmere throw, nike shoes, well o.k. i'd take it all afterall they were gifts.... the show was not announced ahead so buyers would not be there outside the studio. i would be surprised if most of it was never sold off. some of those things were specifically made & labeled for Oprah to give away, i doubt many will part w/ them. ~ liz

I just checked Wikipedia on Federal Gift Taxes, and specifically Oprah's "gifts" were mentioned. Apparently this would not fall under the current annual $13,000 Gift Tax Exemption for those donees as it was clearly done for "promotional" (aka business) purposes---it wasn't like she gifted a favorite relative or anything. So, yes, recipients would have to pay income taxes on this so-called gift.