'Jeopardy!' winner, West Islip-raised Sean McShane, riles viewers with Long Island remark
"Jeopardy!" host Ken Jennings, left, with Long Island native Sean McShane on the set of the ABC game show. Credit: Jeopardy Productions Inc.
Former Long Islander Sean McShane, who won "Jeopardy!" Monday through Wednesday and competes again Thursday, proved ungracious to the place where he was raised when host Ken Jennings on Monday asked about his background.
Describing McShane as "a nonprofit membership associate originally from West Islip, New York," Jennings said the current Bostonian "must be something of a cyclist — what did you do this summer?"
"So I took a week and a half off work" at the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts, a trade group, "and I rode my bike the entire length of New York State, from the Canadian border all the way down to Battery Park in Manhattan."
"You didn't decide to go all the way out on Long Island as well? Continue the journey?" asked Jennings.
"Eh, I'm not missing much," McShane replied, chuckling.
Jennings compounded the affront with a loud laugh before adding, "A harsh judgment for our viewers from" — and then switching to a stereotyped accent — "Lawn Guyland!"
"Is it just me, or did Jennings just pronounce it as ‘Lawn Guyland’?” asked one astounded Twitter commenter.
Most, however, reserved their ire for McShane, whose cousin Dan McShane won $64,001 on a five-episode "Jeopardy!" run in 2012 and competed in the Tournament of Champions the following year.
"Note to contestants = dissing specific parts of the US is not how you use your little story time with Ken," tweeted one person. Wrote another, "Not cool, #jeopardy dude who just hated on Long Island. Sincerely, A longtime Jeopardy watcher presently watching from Long Island."
Some comments were even blunter. One self-described "lifelong #LongIsland resident" said McShane "can shove his snide remarks up his [expletive]!" Another person tweeted, "Intros: ‘Wow, Sean's from West Islip! I hope he wins!’ Interviews: ‘Wow, [expletive] right off Sean!’ ”
And one person noted that the day's "Jeopardy!" champ flunked geography in his chat with Jennings: "Sean said traveled the length of New York State and went all the way down to Battery Park ... Which isn't the southernmost part of the state ... So technically he didn't travel the length of the state lol." The state's southernmost point, according to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and other sources, is the tip of Conference House Park, in Tottenville, Staten Island.
McShane, whose firefighter father Terence A. McShane died on 9/11 at the World Trade Center, attended Bayview Elementary School in West Islip and St. Anthony's High School in South Huntington before graduating from Boston College in 2019 with a degree in history.
A "Jeopardy!" representative did not return Newsday's request for comment.