Oprah Winfrey and several thousand fans descended on the Sydney Opera House today to record two episodes of her final television series.
Winfrey, the high priestess of self-esteem and personal empowerment, has been received in Australia with almost religious zeal.
The fervour has routinely resulted in weeping and screaming as the Oprah juggernaut has traversed the country from Hamilton Island to Uluru. Sydney harbour bridge was adorned with a giant pink "O", the Opera House renamed the "Oprah House" for the duration of her visit, and traffic and maritime restrictions put in place that would rival those of a state visit.
Today's appearance was part of a farewell tour. Winfrey's chat shows are coming to an end and, after 25 consecutive seasons, she is about to launch her own television network. The third most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes, earned more than $300m (£190m) in the last year.
Winfrey and her team wanted to produce for her last season something that would top anything she had done before. For her first shows filmed outside the US, Oprah bought along 302 of her most ardent guests who have been sent on all manner of trips and tours in the name of "Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure".
Today was the pinnacle of it all – filming of the Oprah Winfrey Show at Sydney Opera House, which 350,000 Australians had applied to be part of in a ballot and 12,000 got the chance.
Oprah did what she does best; splicing celebrity conversation with generous surprise giveaways that left the crowd breathtaken. There was $250,000 for Kristian Anderson, an Australian father suffering from cancer, and his family. Laptops went to every student at Canterbury boys' high school, who also had a surprise visit from rapper Jay-Z after one of their teachers wrote to Oprah explaining some of the disadvantages the students were experiencing. And a necklace of deep-sea pearls from north-western Australia, worth $450, was given to every member of the audience.
It all took place among a procession of Australian celebrities including Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, the Irwin family and Hugh Jackman, who injured himself during a dramatic Wolverine-style entrance on a flying fox, sailing over the crowd.
As the show began, Winfrey stood on stage declaring repeatedly: "I love Australia! I love Australia! To the rest of the world watching right now, you've got to come to Australia!"
The Australian Tourism Commission could not have dreamed of such product placement. The exposure has been estimated as worth about $70m thus far, and the shows will not air until next year.
Such hyper-excitement is not a trait often seen in Australians, but the fans could not have been happier, lapping up Winfrey's script of self-love, self-improvement and positive thinking in sweltering temperatures during the outdoor filming.
In the end, as the official cameras stopped rolling, she left the screaming crowd with a direct message: "Life's about what you give out, because that's what is coming back to you all the time. This experience for me has been really of divine order. It has been heaven sent. More power and love to you, Australia."
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