Race Across The World star Jo Gardiner's family remember her as an 'endlessly loving' mother to her son Charlie and his late brother Sam who she adopted as a baby

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 06:25 EDT, 25 August 2026 | Updated: 06:49 EDT, 25 August 2026 The family of Race Across The World star Jo Gardiner have called her a 'brave, kind, witty and endlessly loving' mother to her two sons.Jo died on Friday, August 21 at the age of 61 following 'a long and courageous battle with cancer', with her family releasing a statement to mark her 'full' life.'She had a rare gift for making everyone around her feel more alive. She lived fully, fiercely and never did anything by halves,' the family statement read.'She was blessed with countless friends, drawn to her extraordinary magnetism. Somehow, each one felt as though they were among her very best. To us, she was more than all of these things. She was our family, our joy, our safe place and our absolute treasure.'Race Across The World also released a statement on Monday to offer their 'deepest and heartfelt sympathies' to Jo’s son Charlie. The 'intrepid adventurer' died a year after her youngest son Sam, who she starred with on Race Across The World, was killed in a tragic car accident at the age of 24. The family of late Race Across The World star Jo Gardiner have called her a 'brave, kind, witty and endlessly loving' mother to her two sons Charlie and Sam, who died last year (pictured together in 2024) Jo died on Friday, August 21 at the age of 61 following 'a long and courageous battle with cancer', with her family releasing a statement to mark her 'full' lifeJo and her ex husband Andrew adopted Sam when he was six months old and she spoke about their bond during her 2020 appearance on the BBC's travel competition which saw her and Sam journey across South America. In an emotional speech to camera, Jo recalled how 'we already had a birth child, Charlie who was three years old, and you have that immediate bond.''Of course, it's different with an adopted child. You do worry, will you get to that point of loving them in that way?''The time I realised how much I loved him was when Sam was over a year old and the horrible tsunami in Southeast Asia happened and I remember reading about the story of a mother with two children and she couldn't hold on to both children, and she had to decide which one to let go.''I had nightmares about it and at no point could I let go of either of them. And it was then that I realised that I loved them both equally and he's totally mine.''I just love him and I'm proud and so pleased that we are on this journey together.'The BBC show also saw Jo and Sam speak about how he lived with ADHD and the effects of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.Sam was eventually diagnosed with FASD, which can develop when someone has been exposed to alcohol in the womb, after a nursery manager raised concerns about his disruptive and hyper behaviour and asked about his birth mother.Sam told the programme how his mother was 'the biggest reason why I never lost faith in myself' during his tumultuous school years, and how he had decided to go on the programme to 'spend as much time with my mum as I can.' Jo adopted Sam when he was six months old and she spoke about their bond during her 2020 appearance on the BBC competition which saw her and Sam journey across South AmericaHe explained how he had never gone out of his way to find out who his birth mother was, admitting 'it's quite a warm feeling to know that you're different and special, in the way that you've been chosen.'Sam was working as a landscape gardener on an isolated estate on the west coast of Scotland at the time of his death in 2025.He was visiting family at home in Manchester when he was killed. He died from a brain injury in hospital three days after his car came off the road.Sam's Instagram account was filled with photos of his travels with Jo and his brother Charlie in the years before he died as well as reunions with their Race Across The World co-stars.