LEWISTON – Surrounded by about three dozen of her friends and relatives, Wendy Brochu was center stage.

“They all want a piece of me,” she joked before the television game show “Wheel of Fortune” came onto the big screen at Chances Bar and Grille. They knew she won something on the show about to air; they just didn’t know what.

Soon, Brochu was literally center stage, sandwiched between two other contestants. When host Pat Sajak introduced her, her fan club erupted in cheers and applause.

“This couldn’t have happened to a finer person,” said Sherry Camic, Wendy’s sister. “She deserves it, she does.”

Soon, the wheel was turning, Wendy won the first call and Vanna White was flipping vowels and consonants on the big board.

More hoots and whistles and hand-clapping.

“It’s fun to cheer on a hometown girl,” says Carol Albert, a friend and customer of hairstylist Brochu. “We’re here celebrating her success, even though we don’t know if she’s successful yet.”

Brochu misses a letter. The wheel moves to another contestant.

Chances fills with boos as her opponent Robert claims the first round.

Round two. “I’m going to be embarrassed,” Brochu tells her fans.

Soon, enough letters are turned to give some people a fair idea as to the answer. Brochu tells Sajak she’s ready to solve the “Before and After” puzzle.

“Where’s my bag?” she calls out from a table. Brochu toted the paper bag with cutouts for eyes for just this moment.

On the big screen, she stares at the letters. A buzzer sounds.

“I just drew a blank,” she tells Sajak.

Robert spins, calls a letter, then reads the answer: “When pigs fly first class.”

Boos mix with laughter.

“All right, you guys, pay attention,” commands Brochu. She knows her time is coming.

The game: “Who is it?”

She starts spinning and never stops, hitting letter after letter and tallying up $14,350 in her potential pot.

Finally, with nearly nothing left for Vanna to do but look good, Brochu answers the question. “This night visitor leaves money for molars.”

The pot fattens as she tells Sajak just who that visitor is: “The Tooth Fairy,” she blurts.

Her final prize, $19,350, makes Brochu, as she points out, “the big winner” for the night.

“I told my kids I’m taking them to Disneyland,” Brochu explains as for some of the winnings. “And I’ve already bought a Ducati motorcycle for me,” she adds.

She intends to ride it with boyfriend Michael Pelletier as soon as the weather improves.

“She absolutely deserves this,” said friend Christina Sachs.

And as the screen fades into a commercial, Brochu beams as she looks around the room.

“I won!” she shouts.