Oprah Winfrey Explains Her Iconic 'You Get a Car!' Moment

— -- Oprah Winfrey is much more than a single moment; she's an icon and game-changer in so many ways. But when you think of her show and TV giveaways, you think of the episode where she gave everyone in the audience a new car.

You also think of her reaction.

That was 11 years ago, and earlier this week, Oprah, 61, spoke to Entertainment Tonight about why she yelled "You get a car!" to everyone in the audience. To set the scene, the audience thought going in that only one of them was getting a new Pontiac G6.

When the audience opened boxes they were given earlier in the day, they all had keys to new cars and were in shock. She then started yelling the now iconic line.

"I was saying that because people were screaming so loudly they didn't know what was going on," she told ET. "Prior to that moment, I had said, 'Open up your boxes. One person has a key.'"

She continued, "So when I looked at the faces of the audience, they go, 'But I have a key ... but she has a key,' so that's why I said, 'You get a car! You get a car!' to try to clarify, because they all looked so confused. Everybody gets a car!"

She ended up yelling "You get a car" more than 10 times to canonize the moment. In all that day, 276 cars were given away.