Phil Keoghan

Philip John “Phil” Keoghan is a New Zealand-born television personality, best known for hosting the U.S. version of The Amazing Race on CBS, since its 2001 debut.

He is also the creator and host of No Opportunity Wasted, which has been produced in the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. He has won seven Emmy Awards for his work.

Born in the town of Lincoln, New Zealand, 22 km (14 mi) south of Christchurch, Keoghan spent a considerable part of his childhood in Antigua and Canada. Phil attended St Andrew’s College, Christchurch during his high school years.

While completing a TV cameraman apprenticeship, he successfully auditioned for New Zealand children’s show Spot On at age 19. After a series of further presenter work on television in New Zealand television, including as a reporter on That’s Fairly Interesting, he set off to further his career abroad. Before joining The Amazing Race, he was considered as a host for Survivor, but was unsuccessful partly due to his nationality. For his hosting of The Amazing Race, Keoghan was nominated for the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program in the second year of the award’s creation but lost to Jeff Probst of Survivor. In a 2002 interview, he admitted that his pay for a single episode of The Amazing Race is more than an entire year on Spot On.

According to his book, No Opportunity Wasted, Keoghan set out to live his life to the fullest by accomplishing exotic goals and taking risks after a near-death experience at the age of 19. Since then, he’s broken a world bungee jumping record, gone diving in the world’s longest underwater caves, eaten a meal on top of an erupting volcano, and renewed his vows underwater. He was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he shared with Oprah his list of things he wants to do before he dies. The focus of many of his shows is helping others live their lives to the fullest.

From March 28 to May 9, 2009, Keoghan performed a “Ride Across America”, in partnership with several organizations including GNC to raise money for Multiple sclerosis research. Keoghan and others biked 3,500 miles from Los Angeles to New York City, averaging 100 miles per day and stopped in 39 cities en route during which Keoghan attended events and participated in casting selections for the 15th cycle of The Amazing Race. The ride culminated a day before the finale of the 14th season of The Amazing Race. The event raised $500,000, with over $400,000 coming from in-store donations during the ride.

Keoghan has hosted over 1,000 different programme episodes.

In June 2010, it was announced that Keoghan would host and produce a new reality series about the VELUX 5 Oceans Race.

He just finished filming the 17th installment of The Amazing Race which will premiere on September 26, 2010 worldwide.