Over the weekend, an old video clip went viral of Oprah Winfrey reacting to a woman who apparently hadn't added any seasoning to her prize-winning chicken.
I often think about the time Oprah did a cooking segment with a woman whose chicken recipe won $1 million, and Oprah's jaw dropped when she tasted it and realized the lady didn't even add seasoning
BuzzFeed's own Spencer Althouse tweeted the video clip from a 2006 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which featured a woman named Anna Ginsberg, who won a $1 million prize after submitting her chicken recipe to a Pillsbury cooking competition.
"I do like it," Winfrey told a nervous Ginsberg before inquiring, "Did we add salt and pepper?"
This was Winfrey's face when Ginsberg said there was NOT any seasoning in the $1 million chicken dish.
"But you can add it in yourself," Ginsberg said.
Again, this was Winfrey's face:
The tweet has earned nearly 60,000 retweets and over 4 million views since it was first posted on Dec. 8 — plus it sparked a ton of funny reactions.
@SpencerAlthouse This is where I died
@SpencerAlthouse Shaded by Oprah on national television? This is a villain’s origin story.
@SpencerAlthouse you can literally see this woman’s soul leave her body lol
Well on Thursday, Winfrey responded to the tweet and clarified after all these years what she was really thinking.
Winfrey said she always wanted her guests to have a good experience on the show while also staying in her "own truth."
"So I was having a moment of trying to decide: Do I want her to have a great time? What is my real moment of truth?" Winfrey said.
"Because the truth for me was that I'm used to having salt and pepper on my chicken. That's just the truth," she said. "That's what I was thinking."
Althouse told BuzzFeed News that he grew up watching Oprah and often watches her old YouTube clips, which is how he stumbled on the video of the Pillsbury bakeoff winner.
"Oprah's reaction was very funny to me because she's tasting someone's million-dollar seasonless chicken and she hates it because there's no flavor to it, but she has to be as polite as possible," Althouse said.
He's also pretty shaken that Oprah — OPRAH! — has responded to his tweet.
"I'm ecstatic that Oprah responded to it herself," he said, "and it's good to know she enjoys her chicken seasoned, as people should."
So, there you go. If you ever find yourself cooking chicken for Oprah, be sure to ADD 👏🏼 SALT 👏🏼AND 👏🏼 PEPPER👏🏼.
