DANGER! fans noticed an incomprehensible curiosity about Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
Before becoming the front-runner to be Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, Mark competed on Celebrity Jeopardy!.
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Kelly, 60, who retired from NASA as an astronaut in 2011 after four trips to space, appeared on the game show spin-off in 2015.
He made it to the finals against NFL quarterback (and future guest host) Aaron Rodgers and Kevin O’Leary of ABC’s Shark Tank.
Mark finished second, losing to Aaron but beating “Mr Wonderful” and winning $10,000 for charity.
Mark won $10,000 for Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas.
The interesting connection was shared on Jeopardy! online fan page over the weekend.
“Potential vice presidential candidate, Celebrity Jeopardy alum,” the fan posted. “Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, astronaut and possible Democratic candidate for vice president, was a Celebrity Jeopardy finalist in 2015!”
‘LIKE THIS GUY!’
Other fans took to the comments section, surprised by the discovery.
“He is my favorite among the potential candidates. I’m glad to know he’s smart,” one person wrote.
“I haven’t seen this before, so thanks for posting!” posted another.
“Too bad I only vote for champions”, joked a third.
“I keep finding more and more reasons to like this guy,” wrote a fourth.
“Cool. I didn’t remember it being on the air!” she exclaimed a fifth.
HOW DID HE DO IT?
Mark competed in the final year the late Alex Trebek hosted the special before his tragic passing in 2020 due to pancreatic cancer.
Mark had some winning moments in the finals, even if he didn’t win.
Danger! Universe
Danger! it 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 are all:
Danger! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7pm 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 previous season, where the prize is entry into the Champions Wildcard.
Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one-, two-, and three-day champions from the previous season that are eligible for entry into the Tournament of Champions.
Danger! Invitational Tournament (distribution) – from 2023 to the present, features big names from the past invited by producers to compete for a place in the Masters.
Danger! Masters (primetime) – from 2023 to present, features the six Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.
Celebrity Danger! (Primetime) – From 1992 to the present, celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.
Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – from 2024 to present, will feature teams of three in charge of pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, hosted by Colin Jost, air date TBD
Danger! eliminated specialized tournaments, such as University Tournaments, Children’s Week and Teacher’s Tournament, to move towards a more sporting model, with the Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.
Other versions of Jeopardy! have also failed over the years, such as Sports Jeopardy!.
“In 2015, the Dawn spacecraft began orbiting this object in the asteroid belt, the first dwarf planet ever visited,” asked host Alex for $2,000.
“What is Pluto?” Kevin responded incorrectly, being the first to enter.
“That’s what I was going to say,” Kelly quickly joked, eliciting laughter from the studio audience (the correct answer was Ceres).
Ultimately, Mark had $8,600 going into Final Jeopardy! and no one knew the answer to the last clue.
In the “Business” category, players were shown photos of two men standing next to motorcycles and had to name the two business leaders from the early 20th century.
Kelly wrote “Ford and Pontiac,” betting half of his winnings. O’Leary chose “the Wright brothers” and Rodgers guessed “Ernst and Young.”
The correct answer was Harley and Davidson.
MARK SURPRISES 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 that a mission to Mars 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 final space shuttle Endeavor mission – added that the point of space travel is advances in technology.
“If we didn’t send people to the Moon, we could argue that we wouldn’t have computers or laptops.”
Alex and his fellow players stood by, amazed by the predictions and insights.
During the game, Mark also explained that he was playing in the hospital where his wife stayed after an assassination attempt.
“I’m playing at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, which is the hospital where Gabby stayed six months after she was almost murdered,” 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 member of Mark’s family 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 few hundred miles above is his twin brother, Scott, on the International Space Station,” Alex said. “And he might be watching – if his antenna is long enough.”
RECENT CELEBRITY DANGER! WINNERS
Celebrity Danger! returned to ABC as a $1 million annual special following Alex’s death.
Actor Ike Barenholz won Season 1 and, for the first time, was invited to the subsequent Tournament of Champions, where he reached the semi-finals, impressing fans.
Parent Trap actress Lisa Ann Walter won Season 2 with a single Final Jeopardy (“The Butler Did It”) and will be in the next Tournament of Champions.
ABC has already renewed the spinoff’s third season for this winter because of its sky-high ratings.
Former champion Ken Jennings is now the franchise’s sole host.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
