Why dozens of celebrities were profusely thanking Matt Lauer in their Daytime Emmy speeches

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Ellen DeGeneres and Matt Lauer had a special message for those attending and viewing the Daytime Emmys Sunday night. 

In a hilarious semi-NSFW video (see here), DeGeneres and Lauer announced they were ending their prank war.

Lauer stripped down, and the two declared that for every time an Emmy winner thanked Lauer in their acceptance speech, Lauer would donate $1,000 to charity. 

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BuzzFeed reports the celebs took note. 

Since neither DeGeneres nor Lauer specified whether each celebrity could only thank Matt once, Tyra Banks thanked Lauer twelve times, setting off a trend of stars giving multiple thank you's to Matt Lauer that continued well into the night.

Here's the list of celebrities who thanked Lauer during their speeches:

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"Entertainment Tonight" host Nancy O'Dell said his name three times.

"Thank you Matt Lauer, Matt Lauer, Matt Lauer. Is that worth $3,000?" she quipped while taking home the award for Outstanding Entertainment News Program.

"Thank you Matt Lauer. Thank you Matt Lauer, thank you very much indeed," Craig Ferguson said for $4,000. "Thank you, Matt Lauer! Thank you very much." 

Charles Osgood, accepting the award for "CBS Sunday Morning," thanked Lauer twice ($2,000), and Daniel Osgood of "The Young and the Restless" thanked Lauer's parents ($1,000).

Tyra Banks thanked Lauer (again!) for $1,000 and Maria Alvarez thanked him on behalf of Telemundo ($1,000).

BuzzFeed reports two of Alvarez' colleagues said thanks as well ($2,000).

"Days of our Lives'" Freddie Smith said it once ($1,000), while presenters Karla Mosely (once), Jacob Young (twice), and Linsey Godfrey (five times) also thanked Lauer profusely for $8,000.

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Chrissy Teigen gave a $2,000 thank you to the Today Show host, and she and her "Fab Life" co-stars also thanked Lauer on behalf of Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan ($6,000).

$10,000 for ten thank you's from the entire "Bold and the Beautiful" cast, and $6,000 more from "Bold and the Beautiful" writers. 

$1,000 from "Jeopardy!" executive producer, Harry Friedman.

"The Chew" stars Carla Hall and Daphne Oz each thanked Lauer - $2,000 more.

Nancy O'Dell again thanked Lauer (twice) with Kevin Frazier for their "Barefoot Contessa" win. Frazier also thanked Lauer twice - $3,000. 

"The Ellen Show" producer Mary Connelly thanked Lauer twice, and "General Hospital's" Anthony Geary thanked Lauer once.

Rounding out the thanks was "Days of our Lives'" Melody Thomas Scott with one Lauer shout out, bringing the grand total to $69,000.

Neither Lauer nor DeGeneres mentioned what charity the money would go to, but Lauer is encouraging his colleague to get in on the fun: