Oprah Babies

I was on one of the final Oprah Winfrey show.
 Not many people can say that, but I can.
———————————————————————————————-                                                                        I was picked out of thousands of girls that entered and became one of 60 to be apart of a segment on the Farewell Spectacular; and of those 60, I was one of 6 to talk ON CAMERA to Oprah. My dream came true and here’s how it happened.
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Day 1- Harpo Studios. Me and 60 other girls showed up for the first rehearsal
on May 15th and when we all sat down in the audience seats and thus, the OPRAH BABIES were born. We waited about 10 minutes before some of the producers came up and gave up a little announcement on what the next 3 days were gonna look like. 
We found out we were gonna be working with Dakota Fanning (cheers and clapping) and with Beyonce!!! (Screams, cheering, dancing and crying!!!) We found out that she would preform “Run the World (Girls)”, which is now one of my mom’s favorite songs. (You can watch the performance here!!)
All of the girls came up onto the Oprah stage and we rehearsed where we would approximately stand, what the girls speaking would say, and how we would walk off before Beyonce started. I also met Zoe that day; she is now one of my best friends ever. Hey Zoe, paws up :)
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Day 2- United Center. After the all girls got into groups outside, we were escorted up into the Stadium Club, where we would be staying before and after the taping. There was SO MUCH FOOD!!!! I didn’t get to eat any that night, but boy did I eat after the taping!!! We all hung out for about 30 minutes before the speaking girls were called out to the hallway to rehearse. After about 5 minutes, all of the girls went into the stadium to rehearse on the stage! Two words can describe what I first thought when we walked in- Holy crap. It so amazing! They led us up onto the stage and moved us into our spots of where we would stand and then we rehearsed.

We ran through it about 5 or 6 times saying our lines, walking off stage, handing the microphone to the person at the bottom, going 2 the back and waiting for our cue to run around the stage near Beyonce. After that we went into the seats to the right of the stage and waited for about an hour and a half watching the dancers run through the routine 20 times over. (Keep in mind, during this whole time I was starving and needing 2 use the restroom.)

Suddenly, we heard Beyonce’s voice over the microphone and we all looked over and there she was!!! She waved to us and we all SCREAMED and cheered. I was cheering and laughing while drumming my knees in excitement. She ran through her part about 4 or 5 times, then the producers led us up on stage where Beyonce shook EVERY GIRL’S HAND. She looked us dead in the eyes and said stuff like “Hi”, “Great job”, (she even said to Zoe that she liked her shirt!), then we ran through the entire segment; Our lines, then we would walk off and she would sing. 

Just before last rehearsal, one of the producers said “Girls, we would like to introduce you to Dakota Fanning!” and we were all shocked! They said on Sunday that we wouldn’t see her until the taping on Tuesday!! She shook some of the girls hands and said hi. I turned around and asked her a question, said hi and she was so nice! Both Beyonce and Dakota were so amazing!!!
Afterwards, we all went back to the green room and then proceeded to go home. We all knew that tomorrow would be the best night of our lives. 

———————————————————————————————                                                                            Day 3- United Center- May 17th 2011. 60 Chicagoland girls, 13,000 audience members, 33 celebrities and OPRAH WINFREY have all piled into the transformed United Center to take part in the biggest surprise ever attempted. 
We waited in our green room, eating, talking and growing more and more anxious with every growing second. Around 6 o’clock, they made an announcement that in fifteen minutes we would head downstairs! We ate really fast, kissed our parents and set off on the ride of a lifetime.

We went through the backstage hallways and could hear the people cheering and shouting. Suddenly, we heard Dynamite by Taio Cruz playing and we started SINGING at the top of our lungs. “WE GONNA LIGHT IT UP LIKE IT’S DY-NO-MITE!!!”; holding hands, crying and all saying “I can’t believe it, I DON’T believe it, it’s happening!” We waited in the back for about 15 minutes before the show started. They played amazing music; Marry You, E.T, We Will Rock You. (One of the ushers complimented me on my dancing and my knowledge of the all the lyrics to the songs <3)

We were shaking when Oprah came out and were crying the whole time. Then the moment came. “GO GIRLS!! START WALKING! YOU’RE ON!!” Oh God. We walked up the side of the stadium, waving to the audience, crying and shaking. We waited a moment then proceeded to go on to the stage. We were given our microphones and took our places without the help of the producers. Then we heard it. “DOVE IS A PROUD SPONSOR OF THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW. PLEASE WELCOME DAKOTA FANNING AND SOME YOUNG ULTIMATE VIEWERS.” We were told to keep our eyes on Oprah, which is EXACTLY what I did.

Dakota- We call ourselves OPRAH SHOW BABIES, your voice has been the soundtrack of lives, every milestone, every first you were there. *ok here we go*
Little girl- Because of you Oprah, I love to read books. *oh god oh god!*
Audiance- Awww!! *Step forward* (which i did)
Me- I’ve learned to stick to my beliefs and not let anyone change who I am *oh my god i did it!!!* Then I burst into tears ;)

After all the girls and Dakota finished, we walked off the stage, hid in the back and watched Beyonce bring the house down!! We got our cue and we ran around the circular stage around Beyonce. When she finished, Oprah came up, hugged Beyonce and Dakota, and then touched all of the girls hands!!! She even pulled up my friend Jaquanda and hugged her!!! So amazing! Then, you’re probably thinking, we went back up to the green room and it was over. Nope, wro-o-o-o-ng. Beyonce’s microphone had cut out at one part and we had to do her part over again!!!!!! So we got to do it AGAIN!!!

When it was REALLY done, we were going back through the hallways hugging and shouting “WHO RUN THE WORLD!!” the entire time. When we got back up to the green room, our parents greeted us like a football team when they run through the banner. After all the girls came through, I ran to my mom and cried happy tears into her shoulder, saying “I did it mom, i did it!! I told you I would do it!!” Then called my dad and said the same thing.

all died down, we ate dinner, watched the show and partied until 10:30 when almost everybody left. We stayed until the end to see who the last person performing would be.

Here’s a list of all the people on the Farewell Spectaular

It was the most amazing night of my life. I will never ever forget it. Thank YOU for reading my posts and wanting to know about the Oprah Babies.

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You can watch the Oprah Babies rock the UC here!!