Jody Kelly was 71 years old when she competed on ‘The Amazing Race’ in 2010.Photo:Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty
Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty
Jody Kelly, the oldest woman ever to compete onThe Amazing Race, died earlier this month. She was 85.
Kelly competed on season 16 of the international travel competition alongside her granddaughter Shannon Foster in 2010. She was 71 at the time while Shannon was 22.
The duo made it to the second round of eliminations on the CBS show.
Her daughter Kelly Foster confirmed her death in a Facebook post shared on Sept. 6.
“I lost my mother yesterday. Jody Kelly was 85 years old and so full of life, joy, and learning,” Foster wrote. “She always had a smile for everyone she interacted with and loved meeting people and having new adventures. She was so active and was always thinking of how to get in her exercise for the day. She carried exercise bands if she traveled and made it a point to do something physical every day.”
Foster continued, “I miss you so much and can’t believe you are gone. You are strong, loving, happy, open-minded, smart, active, and brave.”
While she didn’t share a cause of death for her mother, according to anobituaryfrom theAustin American-Statesman, Kelly died “suddenly but peacefully” Sept. 5 while attending a Spanish language immersion camp in Bemidji, Minnesota.
Jody Kelly, 71, and her grandaughter Shannon Foster, 22, competed on season 16 of ‘The Amazing Race’ in 2010.Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty
Kelly described her feat as proof that people over 70 “can do physical things.”
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Kelly’s obituary noted that the former English professor taught at the University of Louisiana for sixteen years and later taught writing at Austin Community College.
In her seventies, she took up exercising and competed internationally for Team USA at multiple events, including two triathlons and four aquathlons. She placed first at two of the aquathlons, earning two gold medals.
Kelly also published multiple books prior to her time onThe Amazing Race, and after competing on the show, she went on to survive breast cancer in 2018 and founded StrengthMobile, a physical fitness business for elderly people.
source: people.com
