The host of the amazing race, Phil Keoghan

Name: Phillip John Keoghan
Originally from: Christchurch, New Zealand
Born: May 31 1967, Lincoln New Zealand
Family: Wife and daughter
Current home: Los Angeles (also has a home in New Zealand)
Nicknames: Phil-iminator.
Email: contact@philkeoghan.com


Fun Facts About Phil:

* Has Worked In Over 70 Countries
* 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.
* Has won 4 Emmy's for his work


Favorite "Philisms":

"You are the last team to arrive. I am sorry to tell you, you have been eliminated from the Race."
"You are the last team to arrive. However i have some good news for you this is a pre-determined non-elimination leg and the 2 of you are still in the race."


Professional bio:
Phil has worked in television since he was 19 years old, and has hosted more than 1,000 program episodes, including:

* The Early Show
* Fox After Breakfast
* Adventure Quest
* Keoghan's Heroes
* Spot On
* No Opportunity Wasted


Other projects:

Phil Keoghan | No Opportunity WastedPublished a book called No Opportunity Wasted, (Rodale, 2004). In it, he talks about the things he still wants to do before he dies.



Memorable Phil Quotes:

Season 10, Episode 7: I Wonder if This Will Make My Fingers Pickle
Phil: “You have each won a motor scooter. Its good for driving around town, its good on the highway. And you can carry a passenger so you can take a date out if you want.”
Dustin: “Can I take you out Phil?”
Phil : “Um…” *uncomfortable look*
Season 11, Episode 4: No Babies on the Race!
Oswald: “Maui, Maui!”
Danny: “Will you come with us?”
Phil: “That’s a whole ‘nother reality show.”
Season 11, Episode 5: You Need to Watch Your Jokes, Guy
Phil (to the BQs): “Pretty in Pink in Mozambique”
Phil (to Oswald & Danny): “I’m surprised you went for the coal… but that’s just me.”
Oswald: “We came to win… we didn’t come to sissyfoot.”
Season 11, Episode 6: We're Going to Trade You for Food Now
Phil: “As the winners of this leg of the Race, you have each won a twelve and a half foot catamaran.”
Charla & Mirna: “Huh? What is that?”
Phil: “It’s a dual hulled sailing boat.”
Charla & Mirna: “Yay!”
Season 8 Episode 7: "You look ridiculous"
Phil: "Paolo Family, you look ridiculous!"

A List for Life

Think. Write it Down. Then Do.

After Phil's near death experience and reflecting on the importance of seizing the day, Phil decided to approach his life anew. With a reinvigorated ethic he wrote a list for life: a tick-box of things he wanted to do before he died. Below is the list Phil wrote when he was 19. After reading, click through to Phil's list NOW to see how Phil's list has evolved.

"The first list I ever made up was handwritten on the back of a brown paper bag... A lot of the things I wrote down on this early list involved thrill-seeking - and I've since come to understand what was going on. I was looking for a way to replicate that "rush" of coming face-to-face with death. It seems crazy, but when you have an episode like that, you come out feeling more alive than ever before - and for a while, I almost became hooked on trying to re-create that feeling by way of life-threatening stunts: I jumped, I dove, I strapped myself onto speeding objects.

Eventually, I would come to realize that there were many other ways to lead a fuller, more interesting life, without constantly risking my neck. And I also came to appreciate that a good List for Life should be more mature, emotionally richer, and much more varied than this one. (But hey, I was 19)."

1. Go back into that sunken ship
2. Dive the world's largest underwater cave
3. Hand-feed sharks
4. Climb Mount Everest
5. Walk on the wing of a Tiger Moth airplane
6. Learn how to barefoot water-ski
7. Go bob-sledding in Calgary (saw it on the Olympics, had to try it)
8. Scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef
9. Set a world record for bungee-jumping
10. Go to the top of an erupting volcano
11. Get in the ring with a professional fighter
12. Fly on a rocket into outer space

Check out Phil's current list for life and to submit your own list send an e-mail to list@noopportunitywasted.com.


Phil Keoghan has his own website, give it a look and let's see what you think of it.
http://www.noopportunitywasted.com/

Amazing Race star shares life philosophy with kids
Phil Keoghan Phil Keoghan
Fri, 08 Aug 2008 3:34p.m.

He has dived in the world's longest underwater cave and eaten a meal on top of an erupting volcano, but TV star Phil Keoghan still has a list of things that terrify him.

The Christchurch-born Amazing Race reality television show host was in Wellington today to inspire college students with his adventure stories and life philosophy.

Keoghan's "No Opportunity Wasted" (NOW) philosophy aims to inspire and motivate people to make the most of their lives by constantly challenging themselves.

He encourages people to write a list of all the things they want to do before they die.

"There's no such thing as write a list and check it off, then you're done," he said.

"In fact my list is extensive and constantly changing. I'm constantly adapting it and modifying it.

"I hope that even up to my last breath that there's still plenty of things I'm inspired about wanting to do."

Keoghan said he was terrified by the latest challenge he set himself, proving he was not completely fearless.

"I was on a celebrity game show the other day and it scared the hell out of me," he said.

"I was under pressure when everybody knows what the answer is and you're standing there with the clock ticking.

"It was one of the most horrifying, scary things I've done. But I did it."

Another challenge checked off his list was producing the NOW television show.

In 2006 Keoghan gave New Zealand contestants the chance to face their fears, but he said producing and hosting this show was a challenge for him.

"We took three of New Zealand's biggest scaredy cats and basically scared the hell (out) of them and took them from the couch to the record books in 72 hours."

The challenge ended with the contestants and Keoghan jumping off a suspension bridge, together, breaking an unofficial world record.

Keoghan hoped his speech to the Wellington students would motivate them to realise their "amazing potential energy".

However, he said their successes were dependent on the influences they had in their lives, and he hoped he would be one to them.

Children today had more opportunities than he did when he was at St Andrew's College in Christchurch, Keoghan said.

He said his NOW philosophy should be in school curriculums because "kids' minds are more pliable".

He said that unlocking the potential of children was most important to him.

"There can't be anything better than that. That's what you want for your kids and anyone you care about."