Ellen DeGeneres gifts her audience USD 1 million

Los Angeles: Popular talk show host Ellen DeGeneres gifted her studio audience a whopping USD 1 million to express her gratitude for each of their acts of kindness.

Ellen spent the week celebrating her 60th birthday, and for her special surprise, she partnered with cereal brand Cheerios to give her audience USD 1 million to split among themselves.

"I want to take a moment first of all to say everybody in the audience is here for a special reason," DeGeneres said.

The audience was filled with people who participated in the campaign "One Million Acts of Good".

"Thanks to every single person in this audience, it is filled with goodness and we have reached one million acts of good because of all of you," DeGeneres said in the clip that was uploaded on her talk show's official Youtube channel.

She then asked the audience members to check for a box of Cheerios under their seats. After that she revealed the surprise.

"You are all going to share this gift. It is the biggest gift I have ever given anybody, ever,"

"Hold onto your Cheerio because all of you are splitting one million dollars!" Ellen said as the crowd jumped in delight and started to scream.

"That's a lot of money!" Ellen said.

The audience, present in the studio, included a couple, who drove 800 miles to deliver supplies after Hurricane Harvey.

A teacher who donated a kidney to the mother of one of her students, and a man who quit his job to start a sanctuary for farm animals, were also part of the audience.

In an earlier show, Ellen's wife Portia De Rossi, had surprised her with her very own namesake gorilla conservation centre to celebrate the milestone birthday.