dingostew.com

American chat show star Oprah Winfrey surprised her 300-strong audience yesterday by offering to sending them all on an eight-day trip to Australia.

The lucky studio audience will be flown Down Under in December by Hollywood actor John Travolta, who is also a licensed commercial pilot, before being taken to places such as the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney Harbour.

The announcement was made at the premiere of the 25th – and last ever – series of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show', when the talk show host said:

"I started to think about where would I most want to go? Maybe I should take all of you with me to the other side of the world. We're going to Australia!"

Winfrey is also planning to film at least two episodes of her show while in Australia, including one from Sydney's Opera House, set to become 'Oprah House' for the occasion.

The TV star has previously offered other gifts to her audience and staff members, including iPads, cheques, school scholarships and a car.

She is set to launch her own TV channel after her popular chat show ends.

Watch the audience's reaction to Oprah's surprise announcement:

Taxpayers in Australia are reportedly furious after discovering they will be paying to fly Oprah Winfrey's audience to the country.

The Daily Mail claims that the Australian tourist board is splashing out more than $2.3 million to take 300 of the chat show host's guests on an all-expenses-paid trip.



Earlier this week, Oprah surprised audience members with her biggest-ever giveaway when she told them she was taking them to Australia for a special edition of her show.

Footage showed her guests crying with joy as a mock plane was brought onstage with John Travolta emerging from the door in his captain's uniform.

Now Australian taxpayers are hitting back at the extravagant 'gift' by protesting on message boards.

One said: "Australian tax payers will be helping to pay for it. You got to love how this government wastes our money."

Another demanded to know: "How much is our government paying her to come to Australia?"

However, other taxpayers weighed up the benefits of the massive PR stunt, saying: "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."

Australia's Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson described the deal as 'a major coup' and said he had received federal and state funding to convince Oprah to visit the country.