University of Miami

University of Miami Student Gets Gifts, ‘Surprise of Her Life' From Ellen DeGeneres

University of Miami junior Gina Panarese wrote to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres about a month ago - and got a bigger response than she ever expected.

The 20-year-old says she was eating a bagel on the University of Miami campus when her friend spotted Jeannie Klisiewicz, who is Ellen's receptionist.

"He was like ‘they're here! They're here!’ and I turned around, I couldn’t even hear what she was saying on the phone, everything zoned out,” Panarese said. “She said ‘come with me we're going to play the game’."

The game was a spin on Ellen's usual "Cash at Your Door" segment - this time they called it "Cash at Your Car."

"I won some of the questions, but then I lost one of them so it went down to zero, but then she was like ‘okay, we're going to give you a check,” she said. “I honestly would’ve been okay with Dory and just talking to Ellen, but this is amazing."

"Ellen and our team are literally like magicians. They are the most magical people that make wonderful things happen and people have no idea that it's going to happen,” Klisiewicz said.

Ellen surprised the student with a whopping $20,000 and a 2018 Chevy Equinox. Panarese plans to use the cash to pay her student loans - and the car will definitely come in handy.

"My car back at home, it's a 2003 used car when i bought it and it has like 200,000 miles on it." Gina said.

Panarese had nothing but kind things to say about her idol.

"She is the most selfless, genuine person,” Panarese said. “She is hilarious too and her jokes are all out good humor. She is just awesome, everything about her."

You can watch Gina get her winnings during Friday’s episode of ‘Ellen’ at 3 p.m. on NBC 6.

Contact Us