The whole point of this article is that sj-ljudet has a bunch of different realisations, some closer to the initial in "shell" and some closer to the initial in "whip".

Sorry, hadn't read TFA, was thinking of the "sk" ("skönt") sound rather than "sj" ("sjuk.")

EDIT: Clear as mud now, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x7C6qeh-SQ.

Also Swedish, and disagree. GP is close(r).

Are you perhaps from Norrland? Then I see what you're saying.