JEOPARDY! fans have realized a mind-boggling piece of trivia about Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.

Before becoming a frontrunner as Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, Mark competed on Celebrity Jeopardy!.

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Potential Vice Presidential candidate Mark Kelly was on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 2015Credit: Jeopardy!

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Mark Kelly made it to the finals against Aaron Rodgers and Kevin O’LearyCredit: Jeopardy!

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Mark Kelly posing with the late Alex Trebek who died in 2020 of pancreatic cancerCredit: Jeopardy!
Kelly, 60, who retired from NASA as an astronaut in 2011 after four trips to space, was on the game show spinoff in 2015.

He made it all the way to the finals against NFL quarterback (and future guest host) Aaron Rodgers and Kevin O’Leary of ABC’s Shark Tank.

Mark finished in second place, losing to Aaron but defeating “Mr Wonderful” and winning $10,000 for charity.

Mark earned $10,000 for Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas.

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The buzzworthy connection was shared in the Jeopardy! online fan page over the weekend.

“Potential VP nominee a Celebrity Jeopardy alum,” the fan posted. “Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, astronaut and possible Democratic VP nominee, was a Celebrity Jeopardy finalist in 2015!”

‘LIKE THIS GUY!’

Other fans rocketed to the comments section, stunned by the find.

“He’s my favorite among the potential candidates. Glad to know he is smart,” one person wrote.

Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, many spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here they all are:

Jeopardy! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7 pm ET.

Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament.

Second Chance Tournament – 2022 to present features hand-selected non-winners from the season prior, where the prize is entry into Champions Wildcard.

Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one, two and three-day champions from the season prior worth entry into the Tournament of Champions.

Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (syndication) – 2023 to present, features past greats invited by producers to vie for a slot in Masters.

Jeopardy! Masters (primetime) – 2023 to present, features the six highest-ranked Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.

Celebrity Jeopardy! (primetime) – 1992 to present, has celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.

Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – 2024 to present, will feature teams of three tasked with pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, hosted by Colin Jost, airdate TBD

Jeopardy! has done away with specialized tournaments like its College Tournaments, Kids Week, and Professor’s Tournament to gear towards a more sports-like model, with Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.

Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years as well, like Sports Jeopardy!.

“In 2015, the Dawn spacecraft began orbiting this object in the asteroid belt, the first dwarf planet ever visited,” host Alex asked for $2,000.

“What is Pluto?” Kevin replied incorrectly, as the first to buzz in.

“That is what I was going to say,” Kelly quickly joked, scoring laughter from the studio audience (the correct response was Ceres.)

Ultimately, Mark had $8,600 going into Final Jeopardy! and no one knew the answer to the last clue.

Under the category of “Business,” the players were shown photos of two men standing beside motorcycles and had to name the two early 20th-century business leaders.

Kelly wrote down “Ford and Pontiac,” wagering half of his earnings. O’Leary chose “the Wright Brothers,” and Rodgers guessed “Ernst and Young.”

The correct answer was Harley and Davidson.

MARK AMAZES ALEX TREBEK

“It was a lot of fun,” Mark told Alex and his opponents in a post-game chat.

Alex asked Mark about space travel and the possibility of sending astronauts to Mars in the future.

Predicting a Mars mission will happen in 30 years, Mark said, “I think the first person to walk on Mars is alive today.”

He said it would take “six months to get there,” but “with a better engine, we could do it in three months.”

Mark – who commanded the shuttle Endeavour’s final mission – added that the goal of space travel is advancements in technology.

“If we didn’t send people to the moon you could make an argument we wouldn’t have computers or laptops.”

Alex and his fellow players stood by, amazed by the predictions and insight.

During the game, Mark also explained he was playing for the hospital where his wife stayed after an assassination attempt.

“I am playing for Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, which is the hospital where Gabby stayed in for six months after she was nearly assassinated,” Kelly said.

Gabby Giffords, Mark’s wife since 2007 and former congresswoman from Arizona, was in the studio audience cheering him on.

Alex pointed out that another of Mark’s family members had his support at the time, albeit in outer space.

Mark’s brother Scott is also a retired astronaut who commanded the International Space Station (ISS) on Expeditions 26, 45, and 46.

“A couple of hundred miles up is your twin brother, Scott, on the International Space Station,” Alex said. “And he may be watching — if his antenna is long enough.”

RECENT CELEBRITY JEOPARDY! WINNERS

Celebrity Jeopardy! has returned on ABC as an annual $1 million special after Alex’s death.

Actor Ike Barenholz won Season 1 and, in a first, was invited to the subsequent Tournament of Champions, where he made it to the semifinals, stunning fans.

Parent Trap actress Lisa Ann Walter won Season 2 from a sole Final Jeopardy get (“The Butler Did It”) and will be in the next Tournament of Champions.

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ABC has already renewed Season 3 of the spinoff for this winter because of its sky-high ratings.

Former champion Ken Jennings is now the sole host of the franchise.

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Mark Kelly told the fascinated players and host about space travel after the gameCredit: Jeopardy!

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Alex Trebek looked amazed as the astronaut-turned-Senator predicted humans would walk on Mars in our lifetime