PHIL KEOGHAN

Phil Keoghan is a New Zealand 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. As of 2016, he has been involved with winning ten Primetime Emmy Awards related to his work on The Amazing Race, where the show consecutively won the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program seven times.

Keoghan and his wife and producing partner Louise Keoghan is co-creator of No Opportunity Wasted. Keoghan has been the host for The Amazing Race from its inception and also serves as a producer.

Phil has hosted over 1,000 different program episodes of television at times putting his life at great risk. It was the first time I really stopped to think what dying could mean. I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down all the things I had to do in life: hand-feed sharks, travel the world, climb Mt Everest, go into space.— Phil Keoghan, No Opportunity Wasted, 2014.

Since then, Keoghan has 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 while feeding sharks. 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.

Keoghan is an avid cyclist. From 28 March to 9 May 2009, Keoghan performed in “Ride Across America”, in partnership with several organizations 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. Keoghan stopped in 39 cities en route, attending various events and participating in casting for season 15 of The Amazing Race; the ride culminated a day before the finale of season 14. The event raised $500,000, with over $400,000 coming from in-store donations during the ride. His documentary movie The Ride about his ride across America premiered on 3 February 2011.

Keoghan later came across information about Harry Watson, a New Zealand cyclist in the early 20th century that formed a team of four to become the first English-speaking team to ride in the Tour de France in 1928. Looking to celebrate Watson’s legacy, Keoghan prepared to ride the same Tour de France course from 1928 (then, 22 legs at nearly 5,400 kilometres (3,400 mi) compared to the modern Tour at 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi)), using the same type of gear-less bicycle as Watson and his team used, outside of using a modern riding seat. He and his riding partner Ben Cornell completed the ride in 2013, with their progress filmed by Keoghan’s wife Louise and others. The footage was assembled for another film called Le Ride.