Phil Keoghan of THE AMAZING RACE Urges Everyone Not To Be Flippant, and To Appreciate Travel – His Grandparents Sure Did!

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede THE AMAZING RACE host Phil Keoghan hopes that when the world returns to normal travel after the pandemic, people will go back to really appreciating it, the way they did in earlier eras. Season 32 of THE AMAZING RACE, which debuts Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, was filmed before the pandemic, which basically put a stop to the world tourism industry. Thus, Keoghan believes that this season has a vital role to play in terms of both looking back, and looking forward. “This is coming at a very poignant time, when we need this escapism,” Keoghan said. “I think this is going to be a wonderful escape for the viewer to remember a time that was pre-COVID, and also fantasize about what it will be like post-COVID. We will get through this, and this is a great intermediary step.” But when we do get through this, Keoghan wants everyone to have undergone an attitude adjustment. “I think there has been a massive reset for everybody with regards to travel, and I think we were getting a little flippant,” he said. “If you look at the evolution of when we first started THE AMAZING RACE (in 2001), the idea of going to the other side of the world was still something that seemed so foreign – literally foreign – to so many people. But then, eventually we were getting to a point where it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll just jump on a plane and go to Europe, or whip up to Iceland, I’ll just wear my shorts, my flip-flops, and a muscle shirt and jump on the plane.’ When I grew up in the ’70s, travel was a privilege. My parents used to make me wear a suit. They always instilled in me this idea that it was an honour to fly anywhere.” Then Keoghan brought up his grandparents, to further illustrate his point. “My grandparents saved up all their lives, all the way through to retirement, and they took one trip, from New Zealand, and they came to visit my parents in Canada, and then they also came down to the Caribbean,” Keoghan recalled. “I often tell my daughter, who is in her early 20s and has been to probably 30 countries, ‘Don’t take this for granted, because your great-grandparents had ONE trip – the trip of a lifetime, they called it – and they saved up their entire lives to do it.” Travel is magical, according to Keoghan, and we shouldn’t be blasé about it. “Think of what transpires when you get on this time transporter, you literally get in this silver tube – not too dissimilar to what used to happen on STAR TREK – where you could just suddenly be somewhere else,” he said. “You get on a plane, you have a meal, you watch a movie, go to sleep, you wake up and you’re in a different country. So with this reset, when people go back to travel, I think they’re going to appreciate it more. And I hope that they don’t lose that appreciation. I can speak for myself, I haven’t been on a plane since, gosh, whenever this pandemic was announced in March. I am itching to get back to New Zealand and itching to travel again.” In the meantime, everyone can watch THE AMAZING RACE, which still gets Keoghan’s blood pumping, even after all these years. He is the only host that the U.S. version of the show has ever known. “There are other shows out there that if I were hosting them, I would find it a lot more difficult to stay enthusiastic,” Keoghan admitted. “If I were on a studio show, going back to the same place for 30-something seasons, I would struggle. I feel very lucky that THE AMAZING RACE is always fresh. Researching and writing the scripts, always going to new places, working with a talented team, it keeps me stimulated. And I really do give a s— about these people who are coming on the show, and the opportunity it provides them to change their lives. I’ve seen it. I’ve witnessed it. Once somebody comes on the show, they become part of a family. It’s life-changing.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv