From CTV's really lame website:
http://shows.ctv.ca/TheAmazingRace/article/Phil-Keoghan-wants-Canadians-to-start-their-own-version-of-The-Amazing-Race#c_0Phil Keoghan wants Canadians to start their own version of 'The Amazing Race'by: Sheri Block
Date: 10/13/2010 10:51:00 AM ET
There’s one question “Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan always gets asked when interviewed by reporters north of the border: “When are Canadians going to be allowed on the show?”
“Why don’t you just make a Canadian version for goodness sake? Why do you have to be on the U.S. version?” Phil tells me during a phone interview, pointing to places like Australia, Asia and South America who have done this very thing.
Keoghan knows how much Canadians love the show, but says there’s one very big reason we won’t be allowed on it anytime soon.
“Let me ask you one question. If you were on ‘The Amazing Race’ and you have a Canadian passport and somebody else has an American passport, who’s going around the world on an easier trip? And that’s just the start of it.”
Keoghan should know what he’s talking about. The New Zealand-born host has been hosting the Emmy Award-winning reality show for the past 17 seasons and says the secret to its continued success is the strength of the behind the scenes team.
“We’re just lucky that we have a group of really high calibre people who want to work on the show … all of that comes together to make for something that fortunately has been well-received.”
While the show sticks to its tried and true formula each season, Keoghan says they’re always trying to find ways to add new elements to surprise the teams (and the viewers). This season features an Express Pass, which allows one team to bypass any task they don’t want to perform along the race course and move on to the next clue. Since it can only be used once, teams have to be strategic about when they choose to use it.
In the first episode, dating couple Jill and Thomas picked up the pass after being the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop.
“When it’s played, (the pass) could have quite a dramatic impact on the game down the line,” says Keoghan.
As well as the addition of the Express Pass, this season the Race travelled to Bangladesh, Ghana and the Arctic Circle for the very first time.
“It’s sort of like going from the furnace to the freezer … These teams are going through the heat, getting on a plane, waking up and they’re in the Arctic Circle. The show is all about extremes.”
This season was a particularly grueling one, says Keoghan, having shot 12 episodes in only 23 days. He adds that he and the crew didn’t even check into a hotel for the first six days.
“We spent all our time in between shows on flights – flying through the night, getting off the flight and going straight out onto the course again, so it was a pretty brutal race, this one.”
Keoghan not just waiting around at the Pit Stop
Even though it might look like Keoghan just stands at the mat and waits patiently for the teams to check in, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Once arriving at a location, Keoghan (who is often on the same flight as the teams but isn’t allowed to communicate with them) and the crew race ahead to shoot stand-ups at all the Detours and Roadblocks, as well as an intro for the next episode at the Pit Stop.
But if the last team to check in on the previous leg was really late, some of the teams may already be on a flight to the next destination, meaning Keoghan has to scramble even more on arrival.
“It’s just a constant juggling of logistics and time and guessing, sometimes not having communication. In that case we can’t leave the Pit Stop (to do the other stand-ups) because we can’t risk leaving as (a team could) arrive … and shock all of us.”
Keoghan says the amount of communication they have about whether a team is arriving depends largely on the cell phone service in the country. The producers call in from different points on the race course giving updates but sometimes they don’t know where a team is.
They also get plenty of false alarms from the crew they hire on location.
“Local people who don’t know the show, don’t know who the teams are, will be screaming on the radio, ‘Here comes a team! They’re coming! They’re coming!’ so we all brace ourselves and then it’s, ‘False alarm. False alarm. No, it’s not a team. It was just one of the producers running around the side of the building.’”
Once teams arrive, Keoghan interviews each pair for up to 30 minutes. Teams then have a full 12 hours to eat, sleep and recuperate before starting out again, but Keoghan says there’s no resting for him and the crew as they are constantly working out the plan for the next leg.
“Our experience is like a marathon. Their experience is like running 100 metres, resting, running 100 metres, resting.”
And speaking of marathons, Keoghan has to hang up to fit another media interview into his busy schedule.
But before hanging up the phone, Keoghan reminds me of what I need to do.
“Go set up the next ‘Amazing Race’ in Canada, will you? Change the name to “Oot and aboot,” he says, taking a jab at how some Canadians pronounce ‘out and about.’ “The Amazing Oot and Aboot Race.”
I’ll get right on that, Phil.
The Amazing Race airs Sunday nights at 8/7 C on CTV, with episodes available on demand the following day at
www.ctv.ca.
About Sheri
Sheri Block has been covering entertainment for CTV.ca since 2008. As well as meeting Colin Farrell at TIFF 2009, Sheri's highlights have included going on tour with "Canadian Idol," being a stand-in on "Canada's Next Top Model" and reporting on such events as the Juno Awards and MMVAs.
