Quoting Phil's Blog:
It never ceases to amaze me the number of fans who write in from Canada...and the number one question, "Why can't Canadians be a part of the Race?" Australians, New Zealanders...people from all over the world ask the same thing about their eligibility. There are lots of reasons from passports, logistics, casting resources, legal coverage...it is way more complicated than you might think. The fact is there are simply so many choices for casting here in the States for a great show and of course there are now other versions being made around the world.
As far as an international race down the line...maybe, but again think of the challenges. Many people have suggested four networks get together (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA) and each puts in say three teams and equal money. But who would be in control of the show? What happens if all three Australian teams get eliminated in the first three episodes? Fun to talk about but it didn't work for the international Idol series.
I've got to say that this argument I keep hearing about passports and logistics keeping Canucks out of the race really doesn't hold much water. I know for a fact they use some Canadian crew - (camera, sound) and they seem to travel with the racers without much problem. Phil seems like a great guy - I'm sure he's just toeing the company line in his blog.
There is a huge reason they don't have Canadians on the show.
It wouldn't increase TV ratings in the US. Americans want to watch other Americans do stuff - they don't want to see foreigners who speak funny, eh.
And - franchising a Canadian version wouldn't be a good idea for WRP/CBS because a Canadian version would possibly steal viewers and revenue from the US version. CTV pays big bucks to CBS to broadcast TAR-US. CTV would be less likely to buy TAR-US if there was a TAR-CDN that was taking advertising revenue.
A wholly Canadian version would get excellent ratings in Canada - but it wouldn't sell anywhere else - the amount of advertising revenue available in just Canada wouldn't support the cost of running a race.
I think they should slip a Canadian in every so often (or maybe someone who holds both passports - hint - hint) - but don't make a big deal of it in the advertising except in Canada. Ratings in Canada would double and no one would notice in the US.
Jeopardy!'s US ratings don't change when there's a Canadian competing, but the Canadian TV ratings go up when there is.
And here is just a slight glimmer of hope for all Canadians. From the eligibility requirements from CBS...
r. The Producers reserve the right to make any additions to and/or deletions from the
application process above or otherwise make any and all changes to the eligibility
requirements with or without notice on either a case-by-case basis or across the entire
applicant pool