Babylon teacher vies for big money on 'Wheel of Fortune'

For the second time in a month, a Long Islander is competing on the syndicated fill-in-the-blanks game show “Wheel of Fortune,” with Babylon elementary school teacher Kerri McDonagh appearing Wednesday night / at 7:30 on WABC/7.

The Huntington native, 28, had been in elementary school herself when she began watching “Wheel” with her family, she recalls. “From the time I was about 8 years old, my dad would always say, ‘You should go on this show one day.’ And so in April, I applied out of the blue. I looked it up online and it was super easy.”

Following a submission video and three Zoom interviews, she made the cut. With her mother, Patricia McDonagh, she flew to Los Angeles for the June 7 taping. Or at least she hoped so. “They said, ‘There's no guarantee that you'll be filming that day.’” And even so, as contestants on the show do, she had to pay for airfare and lodging herself. "I did have a discount code through 'Wheel of Fortune,' though, so that was nice.”

The effervescent McDonagh had no doubt she would get on the air. The producers, she said, explained that “everyone needed to have a lot of energy and that they're looking for vibrant personalities who were easy to talk to.” She chuckles. “I teach elementary. I can put on a good show with all the kids and keep them entertained and engaged in all the lessons. So I felt pretty confident about it.”

By coincidence, the day she taped was longtime host Pat Sajak’s final day on air before retirement. McDonagh's episode was with Sajak's successor Ryan Seacrest and longtime letter-turner Vanna White. “She’s just the most genuine, down-to-earth person,” McDonagh says. “When we were getting ready with hair and makeup, she came in and introduced herself and said she was so excited to meet everyone. And that kind of took the pressure off, too, to be able to see this celebrity whom I've watched for years and years.”

McDonagh and her younger brother, Shawn Jr., who works for the town of Lloyd Harbor, are second-generation Irish. Their immigrant grandfather, William McDonagh of County Sligo, founded the local milk-delivery company McDonagh’s Milk, and passed it on to his since-retired son, Shawn Sr. Mom Patricia, is a semi-retired hair stylist.

Kerri attended Walt Whitman High School and then earned her bachelor’s in Elementary Education and Teaching at SUNY Oneonta and her master’s in teaching English as a second or foreign language at Molloy College, now Molloy University, in Rockville Centre. She has taught elementary at Glen Head’s Glenwood Landing School since 2019.

And she wants to teach other prospective “Wheel” contestants that, “If you are confident in solving puzzles and you want to try something once-in-a-lifetime, then go for it. Don't be afraid. I've talked to a lot of people about it, and everybody seems to say, ‘Oh, I could never do that.’ And I just feel like there's nothing to lose.”

Recently, Farmingdale sheet-metal worker and independent wrestling promoter Anthony Canerossi won $18,700 in the episode that aired Oct. 31.