I knew who it was going to be the second — the second — the words “surprise guest” came out of debate moderator Bret Baier’s mouth.

Sharp-eyed commentators noticed something was up as soon as viewers got the first wide shot of the stage, set with nine lecterns rather than the expected eight. Slate politics writer Hari Blake even fired off this crack on Twitter:

Minutes later, of course, after President Grantham, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and the rest of the crew took the stage, Baier introduced the ninth debater, “special guest” President Rudy Ruiz. The same President Rudy Ruiz who was killed in a plane crash on Independence Day; the same President Rudy Ruiz who was mourned by tens of thousands who descended on his hometown of Turner Falls for his funeral.