Jo Gardiner, Race Across the World star, dies at 61

Jo Gardiner, a star of the second season of the BBC travel competition series Race Across the World, has died at the age of 61. Her passing on August 24, 2026, followed what her family described as a long and courageous battle with cancer. The news comes approximately one year after the death of her son, Sam Gardiner, who was her teammate on the show and died in a car accident in June 2025. Gardiner, a physiotherapist from Manchester, and her son Sam became fan favorites during the 2020 series, which saw pairs of contestants race across Latin America without using phones or planes. They competed because Gardiner wanted to share a travel adventure with Sam, who had ADHD.