All right, I want to read an email I got from a viewer named
Tracy Brandon.
"Hi Ellen, my name is Tracy.
I'm a single mother to a beautiful boy named Miles.
Miles and I watch your show together every day,
and it never fails to make us laugh.
So I'm writing to say thank you.
You have no idea the impact you've made on my life.
My coworkers called me Smiles because no matter what
I'm going through, I always make sure to smile.
And watching you is what keeps me smiling
through the tough times.
So keep doing you, Ellen, because you really
do change people's lives.
Love, Tracy."
So Tracy, right now, is backstage in a dressing room
with Jeannie.
Let's check in.
We're going to use our Cisco technology.
And Tracy thinks that she's being
interviewed for EllenTube.
She's one of my biggest fans.
Let's just-- Jeannie, obviously, is in on this.
Jeannie, if you can hear me, blink five times really fast.
Blink five times really, really, really, fast.
All right.
And then put one-- left hand way in the air.
Put left hand way in the air.
Like, way high.
Yeah.
Great.
Wave it around.
Wave the hand around like that.
Right.
And blink really fast.
Just keep blinking really, really fast.
That's great.
[LAUGHTER]
All right.
I'm going to surprise Tracy right now.
Get it.
Let's pop in right now.
Hi.
Hey, Tracy!
Hi, Ellen!
What's going on, Tracy?
I'm doing great.
You know, just chilling.
Good.
You're sitting there with Jeannie?
Yeah.
We're talking.
Yeah.
We're talking right now.
Yeah.
She's-- Jeannie, she doesn't seem to be that surprised.
Tracy, you're not that surprised, are you?
No.
No, I'm not that surprised.
Why aren't you surprised?
But I'm glad to meet you, though.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
You're not supposed to be surprised, because we're not
surprising you.
Because you're an actress that we hired.
We're surprising Jeannie.
Jeannie, come on out here.
What?
No, you're not!
[APPLAUSE]
Oh, my gosh.
When I was telling you to blink, and then I
started telling you to raise your hand,
that you just did it--
Well, I do whatever you say.
You're my boss.
Move your hair.
Here, move it.
And I thought, oh, you know, this
is this normal thing that you tell people what to do.
Right.
So I was like, oh, this is funny.
Yeah.
And then when she wasn't getting scared I was like--
or when she wasn't surprised, I was like--
I know.
It's Ellen.
Like, no one has ever done this before!
I know.
What do I do?
I saw you just, like, keep pointing, like, it's Ellen.
Like, do you recognize--
Yeah.
You're just going--
Everybody knows who she is.
Yeah, no.
She's an actress.
We hired her.
We're surprising you.
So this is your 10th anniversary being on the show.
No.
Yeah, it is.
Oh, no.
10 years.
[APPLAUSE]
I'm literally in shock right now.
I know you're in shock.
You were just sitting in the audience one day, 10 years ago.
And this is what we have gone through together--
Oh, no.
--in 10 years.
Hello?
Hi, is Jeannie there?
Yes, this is her.
Hey, Jeannie, it's, uh, Ellen DeGeneres calling.
How are you doing?
Are-- are you kidding me?
No, I'm not.
How are you?
So you've entered every contest, and you've never
won one contest.
No, I haven't.
All right.
Do you know why I'm calling you?
Um--
To tell you you still have not won anything.
Nothing.
What do you need?
I need a job.
A job?
Yes, ma'am.
I mean, I'll clean your bathrooms.
OK.
I don't know why we wouldn't bring Jeannie to see a show
and see if she wants to clean a bathroom or something.
We like your personality.
So we talked about it this afternoon.
We want to offer you a job here.
[CHEERING]
Are you kidding?
Yes.
Oh my gosh!
Jeannie is outside West Virginia right now.
Let's check in with Jeannie in Dallas.
Jeannie is in Ontario.
Jeannie?
[MUSIC PLAYING - FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS, "THE WALKER"]
It's Ellen!
You're talking to Ellen!
Oh!
Trish and her family live in South Hero, Vermont.
And it was way too cold for us to bring them here.
So we sent Jeannie there.
It's negative 6 with a wind chill of negative 28.
Hi!
Please let me inside!
Jeannie!
Oh my god!
That's you.
You're the little one.
And who is that, that you're hugging?
That is my favorite teacher in my whole life.
That's Miss Beth.
[MUSIC PLAYING - KINGS OF LEON, "AROUND THE WORLD"]
You said you wanted to go see a Broadway show, right?
Well, yeah, I'd like to.
Have you ever been in a Broadway show?
No.
I got you a small part in Wicked.
Oh my god.
This is on my bucket list.
I never really thought this would be real!
I feel like the luckiest person in the world.
And now, I'm paying it forward by helping
some very special Olympians experience
their very own firsts.
I got a letter from Sascha.
She has three brothers and sisters
who she has never met before.
You've waited so long.
And here's the thing.
You don't have to.
Because we brought them here.
You are kidding me.
And they're right behind you, Sascha.
Oh my god!
You are kidding me!
For the past 10 years, I have gotten
to be a part of giving the most amazing things to really
wonderful people.
Hey, Jeannie, it's Ellen DeGeneres calling.
That was the phone call that changed my life.
[APPLAUSE]
I've really got to say--
I really do-- I have the best job in the whole world.
And getting to work for you and work with all these people--
she's the best.
And it just trickles down to every person that we work with.
And it's the best place, and I'm so grateful for that.
Well, I'm grateful--
So long ago.
So, thank you.
Thank you.
I'm grateful for you, because I feel the same way.
I have the greatest group of people
working with me every single day, except for Andy.
And I--
[LAUGHTER]
But I walk in, and when you're not at that desk,
I know you're someplace on assignment doing
something wonderful for us.
And so you're a huge part of this show.
Huge part of this show.
Thank you.
So we wanted to make it official that you're always going
to be a big part of this show.
So you have your own seat in the audience.
Oh my god.
You have-- the Jeannie seat!
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
We'll be back.
So we sent you out on assignment,
and you did Ford's "Life's First Evers," right?
Yes.
And what is your favorite part about doing that?
Oh, my gosh.
Well, you want to know what?
I always say my favorite thing to get
to do is to get to be a little part of what you do
every day, which is, you find these amazing, incredible
people that have the most amazing stories
and getting to share it with everyone.
And just, it touches me.
And the stories that we found for this were just so awesome,
and the people are so awesome.
And it was one of the greatest experiences.
It really was.
It's fun to do that for people, isn't it?
It's so fun.
You feel so blessed and so lucky when you do.
Right.
Well, let me tell you something.
OK.
Our friends at Ford were so happy with your "Life's First
Ever" series, they want you to have your very own first
ever Ford EcoSport.
No!
No way!
Oh my gosh!
Are you kidding me?
Oh my gosh!
Holy smokes!
I've never gotten to do this part.
This is your part.
Oh my gosh!
Holy smokes!
I know.
There you go.
Oh my gosh!
This was so fun.
You can watch Jeannie's digital series, "Life's First Evers,"
on EllenTube right now.