Phil Keoghan

Early life and family

Keoghan was born in Lincoln, a satellite town of Christchurch, New Zealand. Due to his father's career, Keoghan spent a considerable part of his childhood in Antigua and Canada. His family had returned to Christchurch by the time he was in high school, and following that, he attended St Andrew's College, Christchurch.

Dr. John Keoghan, Phil's father, is an agricultural scientist involved with conservation in New Zealand. He appeared alongside his son as a Pit Stop greeter during the 13th Season of The Amazing Race when the racers stopped in New Zealand. John Keoghan and his wife Elizabeth "Beth" run a bed and breakfast in Rolleston, New Zealand.

His brother, Andrew Keoghan, was a television reporter on Television New Zealand's One News and is a successful jazz singer. His sister, Ruth Keoghan Cooper, is an MBA graduate of Sydney's Macquarie University. She specialises in coaching, training and development programmes for professional women who wish to combine successful careers with motherhood.

Keoghan currently lives with his wife and producing partner Louise Keoghan (née Rodrigues), and their daughter, Elle. Louise is an award winning Australian-born television producer & director and co-creator of No Opportunity Wasted. They currently reside in Los Angeles, California. They also have two homes in New Zealand, one in Matarangi (on the Coromandel Peninsula) and the other in Westport.

Television

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, at 23, and his wife Louise left for the United States after his show Keoghan's Heroes was picked up by a U.S. network.

Keoghan originally auditioned for host of Survivor. Though on its shortlist, the CBS network ultimately chose Jeff Probst for Survivor, and offered Keoghan the hosting duties for The Amazing Race. Keoghan has been host for the show from its inception and also serves as a producer. He currently has a contract extending for "several years" following The Amazing Race 18 in 2011 that will allow him to also develop other shows for CBS. 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.

Shortly after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Keoghan traveled to his hometown to ensure his family was safe but also to record segments for The Early Show to implore viewers to provide aid to the New Zealand Red Cross and to promote continued tourism, a fundamental part of New Zealand's economy, to the country. At the same time, he participated in recording Air New Zealand's new safety video for its domestic jet fleet. 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 told TMZ in 2010 that during the 10th season of The Amazing Race he was detained in Ukraine for two days until the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine worked all night to free him.

No Opportunity Wasted

While 19 and filming for Spot On, Keoghan and a partner dived down to the shipwreck of the MS Mikhail Lermontov 120 feet (37 m) underwater. During filming, he was separated from his partner in the ship's ballroom and suffered a panic attack, considering it a near-death experience. He was rescued by his dive partner, and though shaken, insisted on facing his fear and returned the next day to complete filming. From then on, Keoghan set out to live his life to the fullest by accomplishing exotic goals and taking risks, creating a "No Opportunity Wasted" (NOW) list of activities he wanted to complete in his life; In his book No Opportunity Wasted, Keoghan wrote:

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.

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 co-developed the television show No Opportunity Wasted, initially premiering in 2004, that reflected on this "No Opportunity Wasted" mantra. He also wrote a companion book, No Opportunity Wasted: 8 Ways to Create a List for the Life You Want.

Keoghan sponsors a line of products with the brand name "No Opportunity Wasted" (NOW), including the NOW Energy Bar, the NOW A3 Bar, the NOW snack bar, and a topical ointment called NOW Road Rash, which went on sale in the spring of 2013.

Cycling

Keoghan is an avid cyclist. From 28 March to 9 May 2009, Keoghan performed in "Ride Across America", in partnership with several organisations 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. 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, which premiered in the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch at the New Zealand Film Festival in July 2016.

Awards

Keoghan was recognised in 2012 as one of six "Emerging Leaders" during the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards, due to his use of his celebrity status to support efforts such as Christchurch earthquake relief and efforts for multiple sclerosis.

In 2008, Keoghan was awarded the World Class New Zealand award in the 'Creative' category.

Keoghan was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2014 New Year's Honours, for his services as a television presenter and to tourism.

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.

Shows

Keoghan has worked in more than seventy countries as a television host, producer, writer, and cameraman. Some of the shows Keoghan has been involved with include: