Beverly Outlaw of Decatur didn't want much as a contestant on the game show "Wheel of Fortune."

"My goal from the beginning was to win 80 grand, a BMW and a trip to Greece," she said. "It has happened to other people; it can happen to me."

Full of high hopes, reaching her goal wasn't too off track. She may not have gotten her trip to Greece, but she came out the big winner of the game, winning a trip to Hawaii, an 8-day Caribbean Cruise and cash, all totaling $22,560.

Outlaw's "Wheel of Fortune" debut aired Thursday evening on WAND-TV.

Outlaw was one of the many people who showed up to the two-day audition when the "Wheelmobile" rolled into town in May at Hickory Point Mall in Forsyth.

She attended auditions by herself, after rejections from friends and family to join her. They would soon be sorry they didn't go.

After the audition in Forsyth, Outlaw was called to audition another time in June in Springfield, where she played a mock "Wheel of Fortune" game. It was a month later that she received a letter saying she was chosen to be on the show.

"In the letter, it said I may not be called to be on the show for 18 months," she said. "I'd never dreamed I'd be going so soon."

Outlaw was contacted to travel to Los Angeles to tape the show in November.

Friends and family were in disbelief, she said.

"'I cannot believe this,' those were their words," she said. "I am lucky. I've always been."

Aside from luck, she was wise to prepare for the longtime-running game show by buying "Scrabble" and "Wheel of Fortune" games for her computer, as well as the handheld "Wheel of Fortune" for practice. She said the games helped.

"It goes so fast," she said about being on the show. "You really don't have a lot of time. Every time you have a turn, you have to make it count."

Longtime friend Barbara Bolden sat in the audience rooting for her friend.

"I was really happy for her," Bolden said. "I was just hoping that she would win." But Bolden got her moment in the spotlight too.

"I get to do a little quick wave" on camera, she said with a laugh of her encounter with the show.

Outlaw said she's unsure about what she's going to do with her prize money, but she vows not to be frivolous.

"It was exciting, almost to a point where it was stressful," she said of the show, "but it was good and encouraging. The show reinforces the belief that you never know what will happen."

Alicia Spates can be reached at aspates@herald-review.com or 421-6986.