Eight weeks ago in Los Angeles, 10 people gathered for an adventure. They never asked what was in it for them. They tried to show what one person could do to make a difference, says the Big Give's executive producer and host, Oprah Winfrey. Big dreams came true, lives were changed, and on tonight's finale just three remain: Cameron, a dot.com millionaire at 18, a fast-thinker who knows how to raise big money; Brandy, a beauty queen who touches as many lives as possible; and Steven, a father of three who thinks big and tries to pull off a spectacular. They have no idea one of them wins $1 million at the end of the night. Oh, and they get to meet Jennifer Aniston.
Oprah starts them off at Chicago's Union Station, which she calls the crossroads of America, and says the city outside is teeming with stories. TEEM-ING, she says. Neither the train station nor the city teeming with stories has anything to do with the next hour of TV. Steven, Brandy and Cameron have two and a half days to work together as a team to change lives. They actually sprint outside the station as if real drama awaits. It doesn't. Steven wants to raise money for the Chicago Hope Academy, a prep school for the under-privileged. Cameron gets the Blue Man Group to perform AND donate $100,000, but he's not keen on the event. Itching to go it alone, Brandy sets up a cooking class at the local Shriner's Hospital.
Bored yet? For the next 50 minutes, this threesome shows they can't work together, but their big hearts and generous souls won't allow them fight with enough intensity to make the show interesting. As finales go, this one is terribly, disappointingly flat. Shame Oprah. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition does this stuff every week and delivers a three-tissue cry-a-thon at the end. Oprah usually does it better in the afternoon.
The best the Big O could muster was Jennifer Aniston strolling out all in black with hair that did not have the best highlight work to help her give $30,000 to each of the contestants that had been kicked off in previous weeks. Then the three remaining big givers were presented envelopes by Oprah's elg of good taste, Nate Berkus. Steven's had $1 million in it. He was the winner! “Cameron and Brandy made it tough,” says judge Jamie Oliver. “Well done." And Steven gushed, “It’s such an incredible privilege to be part of the show.”
