LDN Entertainment

Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes repeats as champion of the grueling Iditarod sled dog race

[March 18, 2026] NOME, Alaska (AP) — Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes cruised to a repeat victory in the Iditarod, the roughly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) sled dog race in Alaska.

Holmes guided his dog team across the finish line Tuesday night in the old Gold Rush town of Nome, a Bering Sea coastal community.

The race started March 8 in Willow, a day after the ceremonial start was held in Anchorage. The course took dog teams and their mushers over two mountain ranges, along the frozen Yukon River and across the unpredictable Bering Sea ice.

Holmes, a former cast member on the National Geographic reality show “Life Below Zero,” is the third competitor in the 54-year history of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to repeat the year after winning for the first time. The others were Susan Butcher in 1986-1987 and Lance Mackey in 2007-2008. Both went on to win four titles.

Holmes told The Associated Press before the Iditarod that this year’s race was the most important of his career. “That’s hard to put that on yourself because you got to live with that pressure every day,” Holmes said. “And if I do not make it, it is going to absolutely crush me.”

He will pocket about $80,000 for this year’s win, up from the $57,000-plus he took home last year. This year's purse was boosted by financial support from Norwegian billionaire Kjell Rokke, who participated in a newly created, noncompetitive amateur category. Rokke reached Nome on Monday, under rules that allowed him to have outside support from a former Iditarod champ, flexible rest periods and to swap out dogs.

Holmes' first Iditarod was in 2018. His seventh place finish earned him rookie of the year honors. He has now raced in the Iditarod nine times, earning seven top 10 finishes. He’s been in the top five the last five races.

He appeared for eight years on the National Geographic reality show “Life Below Zero,” which chronicled the hardships of people living in rural Alaska.

Some also expressed concerns over how such legislation could impact disabled people, putting them at further risk. Lawmaker Pam Duncan-Glancy insisted that “disabled people don't have real choices in life,” adding that it was “inconceivable to suggest the introduction of assisted dying is about choice.”

[to top of second column]

Jessie Holmes poses with his lead dogs Zeus, left, and Polar, after claiming his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race championship, in Nome, Alaska, Tuesday March 17, 2026. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

The defeat is a setback for efforts by supporters of assisted dying to change Britain’s laws. A similar bill that would legalize assisted dying in England and Wales is currently bogged down in the British Parliament in London.

The House of Commons approved The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in June, but it has been held up by more than 1,000 amendments in the House of Lords. Supporters of the bill say that is a stalling tactic by opponents. Some members of the chamber, however, say they are providing necessary scrutiny to strengthen the legislation.

It looks likely that the bill will not be passed by both houses of Parliament before the end of the current parliamentary session, expected in May. If that happens the bill will die and any new attempt to legalize assisted dying would have to start from scratch.

The islands of Jersey and the Isle of Man, which are British Crown possessions but not part of the U.K., have passed similar laws that are waiting for the formality of approval by King Charles III. Both small islands are self-governing but reliant on the U.K. for defense and some foreign affairs.

Assisted suicide — where patients take a lethal drink prescribed by a doctor — is legal in countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and parts of the U.S., with regulations on qualifying criteria varying by jurisdiction.

Back to top