Oprah Winfrey is preparing to bring her unique brand of positive thinking to her fans Down Under, with the Australian leg of her #lifeyouwant tour which she has already taken across America.
Her Aussie fans might be looking forward to seeing her, but it seems even her most die-hard supporters are baulking at the cost, with some ticket prices set as high as $2500 (£1,171).
Since tickets went on sale yesterday, the cheaper seats, around the $99 mark (£46), have all gone for her shows in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney, but it seems the expensive ones are proving harder to shift, even with the promise included of the chance to take a "group photo".
Oprah is set to return Down Under following her first fleeting tour in 2010
Oprah is set to perform to crowds of up to 15,000 a night on her tour. "It's a big production," she says.
But one Melbourne journalist, a self-professed longtime fan, makes the point that Oprah's once unique mix of touchy-feely, holistic positive thinking with practical guides to self-improvement is now the stuff of every car bumper sticker, Facebook update and website listicle (*coughs).
Jo Stanley writes, "I’m not buying the message any more. Living our full life now belongs to the marketers, hijacked by brands who know we’re all desperately seeking true happiness, and Oprah, one of the most successful brands we’ve seen in the last 20 years, hasn’t been able to keep her distance from that.
"On this tour, she’s amplified her message to rock star levels, but the content hasn’t grown in its complexities, and she’s making a lot of money out of something I can read in Cosmo."
Another lady has already snapped up her tickets, however, following Oprah's last tour Down Under when she was befriended by the chat show legend, who threw her a surprise baby show in 2010.
Catherine Schrank has stayed in touch with Oprah since that meeting, and has even visited her in Chicago.
She tells News.Com.au, "It was one of those moments that I will never forget and now almost five years later we have kept in contact and she has really become a friend to me now.
“I think it’s incredible that a woman like Oprah, who is probably the most famous woman in the world, takes the time to write to me and talk through things with me.”
How much would you pay for a ticket to see Oprah up close and personal? One alternative is to follow Oprah's own mantra of making the changes you want in your life by first starting with your spirit. Or by following the rules of bestseller 'The Secret', which she championed on her show. That way, you just have to visualise really, really hard having a ticket in your hand, and hey presto...
