Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star on “Life Below Zero,” won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Friday morning, crossing under the burled arch in Nome, Alaska, around 2:55 a.m.

Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes wins Iditarod after crossing the finish line in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.

Holmes pumped his fist as he ran alongside his sled with a headlamp beaming from his forehead, as he and his 10-dog team finished the 1,128-mile (1,815-kilometer) race across the Alaska wilderness in the Gold Rush town of Nome. The distance for this year's running was the longest in the Iditarod's 53-year history.

The Interior Alaska musher won his first Iditarod on his eighth try, arriving in Nome with his dog team early Friday.

After the 2020 race, it took a vintage plane to get Thomas Waerner and his 16 dogs back home to Norway from Alaska at the start of the pandemic.

Thanks to a lack of snow, this year’s edition of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race needed a new route across the Alaska wilderness. The course change adds more than 100 mile.

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Holmes appeared on "Life Below Zero" from 2015 to 2023 Former reality star Jessie Holmes, who appeared on Life Below Zero, is the winner of the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Holmes began the race on March 3,

NOME, Alaska (AP) — Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday. Holmes was first to the finish line in the Gold Rush town of Nome, on the Bering Sea coast. The race began March 3 in Fairbanks after a lack of snow forced changes to the route and starting point.