Jeremy Keller is a reality television star, best known for his work on Edge of Alaska. He previously worked as a sled-dog racer before appearing on the show.
Keller has competed in the Iditarod sled dog race. Keller is running for election in the Alaska primaries. . He has a net worth of approximately $1 million.
| Name | Jeremy Keller |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth: | November 18th, 1971 (50 years old) |
| Place of Birth: | Iowa, United States |
| Height: | Unknown |
| Profession: | Sled dog racer and trainer |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Children: | 2 |
| Parents: | Mother and father unknown |
| Net Worth Estimate: | $1 million |
Net Worth
It is unclear how much exactly Keller is worth. However, the figure is speculated to be around $1 million.
Most of Keller’s earnings have come from his time on the Discovery Channel program Edge of Alaska. He was paid approximately $200,000 per year for his appearances on the show.
He has also earned a small portion of money from competing in the Iditarod sled dog race. His total prize money totalled $2098. However, Keller did state that his first entry into the race did financially cripple him.
Currently, Keller is one of the nominations for the Alaska primary elections.
Company
Keller owns a kennel for his sled dogs, named ‘All Roads Lead to Dog.’ It is unclear if Keller earns any money directly from the kennel, particularly because he has not registered it as an official company.
However, the organization does have three sponsors for its website. These are the music production company DNA Music Labs, the group Beardsley Adventures, and the hospitality company MA Johnson’s Historical Hotel.
It is unclear how much support these groups give to All Roads Lead to Dog.
The group also takes donations from supporters to help pay some of the costs associated with raising sled dogs.
These costs include approximately $6300 for dog food outside of the racing season, $500 in veterinary fees, and training that is roughly $2700.
During the racing season, the dog food costs $1800, entry to the Iditarod race is $6500, and travel costs are roughly $2500.
In total, these costs equate to approximately $16,600 per year, so All Roads Lead to Dog is likely to make substantially more than this in donations.
Earnings
The exact details of Keller’s salary are unknown. However, it is speculated that the Discovery Channel paid him approximately $200,000 per year for his work on Edge of Alaska. The show ran from 2014 to 2017.
Keller has also earned some money from his time competing in the Iditarod races. In 2007, he came 54th in the race, winning $1049 in prize money. In 2019, he competed again and finished 37th, once again winning $1049. The following year, Keller entered the race again but did not receive a ranking.
Real Estate
It is unclear exactly where Keller lives, although it is known to be in Knik, Alaska. The average house price in this area is $352,500, or $217 per square foot.
During the filming for Edge of Alaska, Keller lived in McCarthy, Alaska. The average house price in McCarthy is $364,500, and the town has no hospital nor law enforcement presence. Keller’s house was twelve miles outside of McCarthy. Before moving to Knik, they lived here for 20 years in the remote wilderness.
Early life
Keller was born on November 18th, 1971, in Iowa. His parents’ names are unknown, as well as their jobs. As a child, Keller lived in many places across the United States, including in Wisconsin.
It is unknown where Keller went to high school. However, he did go to college in Madison, Wisconsin, for a short period before deciding to travel. It is unknown what he studied.
During his early twenties, Keller hitchhiked across America and spent a lot of time travelling in the contiguous United States, also known as the Lower 48.
He became interested in the idea of ‘living off the land’ and spent a good portion of the 1990s helping dog sled teams.
Career
When Keller began hitchhiking in America, he travelled with a small pack of dogs.
One of these was Greyfox, which was a golden Alaskan husky dog, while another was called Eli, which was an Akita. Eventually, Eli fathered several other race dogs, becoming the grandfather for Keller’s 2007 dog sled team.
As Keller travelled, he eventually met his wife, Alison, and the pair married a few years later. Keller continued to work with sled dogs and eventually became a professional dog sled racer known as a musher.
In 2007, Keller competed in his first competitive dog sled race called the Iditarod. The race is approximately 1000 miles or 1609 kilometers and runs from Anchorage to Nome.
During this race, Keller finished 54th and won $1049 as a prize. However, Keller later spoke about the financial burden that this race gave the family, leading to Keller abandoning the race for several more years.
Keller later began starring in Edge of Alaska, a reality TV series from the Discovery Channel.
The show documented the lives of residents in the small town of McCarthy in Alaska. In the show’s final season, it had an average viewership of between 1.5 and 1.7 million in the United States.
During his time on the show, Keller was the de facto leader of the individuals living in McCarthy who were against tourism.
He repeatedly spoke about how he did not want consumerism to run rampant in the small town and also advised against allowing McCarthy to become a tourist hotspot.
When the show ended in 2017, Keller returned to dog sled racing and again decided to compete in the Iditarod race. This time, in the 2019 race, he did marginally better, finishing in 37th place and winning $1049.
Keller competed in 2020, although he did not manage to complete the race and withdrew after three days. He has not competed in the race since then.
Keller is currently standing as one of the candidates for the Alaskan primaries, which will be held in August. He is running as an independent party.
Career Highlights
- Worked as a musher for several years
- Created dog sled kennel named All Roads Lead to Dog
- In 2007, entered Iditarod race and finished 54th
- Appeared on Edge of Alaska from 2014 to 2017
- In 2019, entered Iditarod race and finished 37th
- In 2020, entered Iditarod race but withdrew from the competition
Personal Life
Keller met his wife, Alison, in 1999 and the pair got married in 2003. Eighteen months after getting married, Keller and Alison had their first child, named Bjorn.
A few years later, their second son, named Liam, was born. Alison previously ran her own blog, named ‘The Homestead Chronicles,’ where she documented the reality of living in one of the most remote areas in America.
Keller is the family’s sole breadwinner, while Alison homeschools their children.
Bjorn followed in his father’s footsteps with sled-dog racing as he competed for the first time in the 2020 Junior Iditarod race. Bjorn also helps his father with managing the website for All Roads Lead to Dog.
Keller has owned several dogs during his time as a dog sled racer, including one named Pointer. The dog lived to the age of 14.
Keller has openly criticised the Democrat and Republican Party. He does not support either political party.
Interesting Facts
- In 2006, Keller slipped on a footbridge and fell onto the boulders of the riverbank below. This caused him to shatter his leg, and he underwent serious surgery to repair the damage to his leg. This included putting a steel rod inside his leg, which stretched from his ankle to his knee. However, just a few months later, Keller competed in the 2007 Iditarod race.
- One of Keller’s methods of training his dogs involves sound therapy. Keller places a special tuning fork on the dog’s back, which supposedly allows the dog to recover from any injuries.
- Six of the dogs in Keller’s kennel are from a previous champion in the Iditarod race, named Dean Oscar.
- Neil Darish, one of the other stars of Edge of Alaska, criticised Keller for his comments about tourism. He stated, “while Jeremy is off the grid and doesn’t think he’s relating to tourism, he is because when he sells stuff to me or when he’s building stuff for people in town, the revenue starts from outside the town, and it’s brought to us by people that are visiting.”
- Keller offers donation packages on his website for All Roads Lead to Dog. Anyone who donates more than $1000 to the group receives a personalized dog driving experience from Keller and his sons in Alaska.
Summary
Jeremy Keller is a professional dog sled racer who currently lives in Alaska. He has competed three times in the Iditarod sled dog race, with his highest position being #37.
He is best known for appearing in the reality television series Edge of Alaska and has his own dog sled kennel. He has an approximate net worth of $1 million.