'You get a car!' Oprah Winfrey reveals what led up to her much parodied giveaway which had her audience screaming with joy

Published: 01:42 EST, 20 November 2015 | Updated: 03:33 EST, 20 November 2015

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It's one of the best known and most parodied moments in television history.

Oprah Winfrey shouted: 'You get a car, you get a car', to her studio audience in 2004, when she surprised each member by gifting them a vehicle.

For the first time the 61-year-old chat show host revealed on Thursday the reason for her memorable outburst.

Favourite moment: For the first time the 61-year-old chat show host revealed on Thursday the reason for her memorable outburst eleven years ago

She explained to Entertainment Tonight that far from being an instantly happy surprise, for a brief moment there was total confusion among audience members, which she was trying to clear up.

Oprah told them: 'That was an iconic moment. I just shared this at the dinner table the other night and my god-daughter, Gayle's daughter [Kirby], said: "Have you ever told that story" and I said: "No but maybe I will tell it to Nancy [O'Dell]".'

The Queen of daytime television explained at the time that there would be only one car given away, and the keys would be hidden inside one of the boxes which every audience member had been given.

Much parodied: Oprah Winfrey shouted: 'You get a car, you get a car', to her studio audience in 2004, when she surprised each member by gifting them a vehicle

The billionaire broadcasting legend continued: 'That moment of "You get a car" - I was saying that because people were screaming so loudly they didn't know what was going on and prior to that moment I had said "open up your boxes - ONE person has a key,"

'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!”'

276 G6 sedans were given out on September 13 2004 to her audience, each worth approximately $28,500 and donated by Pontiac.

Generous: The Queen of daytime television explained at the time that there would be only one car given away, and the keys would be hidden inside one of the boxes which every audience member had been given

Memorable: 276 G6 sedans were given out on September 13 2004 to her audience, each worth approximately $28,500 and donated by Pontiac

Winners! She explained to Entertainment Tonight that far from being an instantly happy surprise, for a brief moment there was total confusion among audience members, which she was trying to clear up

No joke! Oprah shouted at the audience after they were surprised that every box contained a set of car keys instead of just one car as she'd led them to believe

It lead the way for further audience giveaways on Oprah's show as well as other shows following in her benevolent footsteps.

The Butler actress, who has a net worth $3.2 billion according to Forbes, later gave gifts to an audience of teachers, and even once flew the entire audience to Australia for an eight-day vacation.

The Color Purple star was given ET's Icon Award during the interview, marking over 40 years in the broadcasting business.

The Selma producer - who recently made a $43.2million investment to buy 10 per cent of Weight Watchers - is currently filming drama Queen Sugar for OWN.