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Oprah Winfrey is well known for giving expensive gifts to the audience members on her show and those on Monday's episode, which was the premiere of her 25th and final season, were not disappointed. When Oprah said she was sending them all on an all-expenses-paid trip to Australia, the audience went wild, clapping and cheering and even crying. <span style="font-weight: bold">But it seems Oprah failed to mention that the 'gift' is actually being paid for by the Australian tourist board</span>.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the trip will cost local taxpayers more than $2.3 million, and a lot of them are not happy about their money being used in this fashion, if feedback from various Australian news sites are anything to go by. "Australian taxpayers will be helping to pay for it. You got to love how this government wastes our money," says one commenter. Another says, "Can't you see? We're a gimmick to the USA, and the only city they really know of is Sydney ... so makes sense. They'll probably be asking why they can't see the kangaroos in the streets."
"How much is our government paying her to come to Australia?" demands another. Australia's Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson called the deal "a major coup", claiming he had received federal and state funding to convince Oprah to go to Australia. And the government will contribute more than $1 million, "mostly in accommodation costs", according to the Sydney Daily Telegraph.
The Australian says a finale will be shot at the Sydney Opera House, which will be renamed the Sydney Oprah House for the occasion.
Oprah announced that all 300 members of the audience will be going on an eight-day trip to Sydney, dubbed 'Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure'. And John Travolta himself will be piloting the plane.
--Daily Mail
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