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AUGI: Last year, we thought The Amazing Race was the best reality
show on television. How's the new season gonna be different? How are
you gonna be able to top what you did last year?
PHIL: Well, there's an innocence lost as soon as you've done something
once, you know. Like Survivor lost an edge the second time around.
There's always something that you lose when you do it again. So what
you have to do is you have to really plan to be a little more savvy
knowing that the contestants are gonna be more savvy… You know
the teams come into this and they have that prior knowledge. They
know exactly what happens when they get to roadblocks, detours, fast-forwards
and when it works to rush and when it works to really haul ass through
an airport or when everything's gonna get all bunched up. And the
first time around the teams didn't have the opportunity to see that
or to know until they got into it and then they slowly started to
realize, 'hey this is when we really need to put in the extra effort.'
So we were aware of that so we wanted to throw in things that were
going to challenge them more and throw them off a little bit so that
they wouldn't know what was coming.
AUGI: What were some of those things?
PHIL: Well, obviously, the playing field changes because you're suddenly
in a different country. So you've got different cultures and you've
got different challenges that you can throw in there. The other thing
is that you want the show to be something that people, whether they're
young or old, can compete with on equal footing. You don't want it
to be so physical that people that don't have the physical prowess
for that particular challenge are gonna get left behind. Also, you
don't want it to be too intellectual so that you shut people out that
may be more physical. You gotta come up with something that's gonna
challenge everybody and is gonna be equal overall for everybody.
AUGI: On par with that I remember when I started watching last
year and I saw the older couple (David and Margaretta), my initial
reaction was 'these guys aren't gonna go anywhere.' But then they
made it like 4 or 5 episodes in.
PHIL: What I love about the Race is that anybody can compete and that
we do have people who range in age from early 20s right thru to 60s
and we have that again this time. To me that's a key element in the
show…. What makes the Race different and unique from so many
other shows is first of all, it's 'teams' of people - two people who
know each other with a pre-existing relationship. You know the other
shows where they've paired people up, but they haven't known each
other, so you've gotta go through that whole honeymoon period where
they're nice to each other and they're not talking in a real way to
each other. Right from the get-go on AR, these teams, these people
that know each other, whether it's a mother-daughter, father-son,
whatever the relationship is, they just get on with it. They get straight
into the race. They get straight into an argument. They get straight
into the way that they communicate. So that's key. It's more than
a race. It's a relationship show… The other thing that I think
makes the show so unique is that it's not a popularity contest…
They're not voted off by anybody else. If they choose to go fast or
slow or take the detour or not take the detour, take the roadblock,
form an alliance, you know all of that is up to them. The only person
that they can look at - at the end when they get to the mat and check
in - is themselves. Now they can blame somebody else because they
listened to them or whatever, but ultimately they determine their
own destiny.
AUGI: Now last year you guys were all over the world and you visited
some great locations like Paris, Zambia, India, Thailand, Beijing,
places like that. Can you give us a glimpse of what cities we might
be seeing this season?
PHIL: What I can tell you is that we really only just scratched the
surface with series 1 and we had a lot of choices to go back for 2.
If you look at a map and you plot out where we went the first time,
you can pretty much work out some of the places we're gonna hit this
time. I mean I can't give it away because I'm not allowed to but what
I can tell you is that the show starts in Las Vegas. And then we go
to a pretty exotic place straightaway. I wish I could tell you more,
but I'd probably end up in a river with some concrete boots on.
AUGI: Last season part of the success of the show was all these
charismatic people you had on. What can we expect from this season:
Is there another Team Guido? Is there another Kevin & Drew?
PHIL: Here's the thing - the first mistake I think people will make
is if they start to say 'is there another Frank and Margarita. Is
there another Kevin and Drew?' No. The answer to that question is
absolutely no. There are not replica teams. Meaning those people are
unique in their own way and the idea is not to go find those people
again. There may be similarities meaning you might have, you know
we have another separated couple and we have another mother-daughter
relationship and we have grandparents… there's only so many combinations
you can have. I mean we have some twins this time. We have the mother-daughter.
We have sisters who are basically best-friend sisters…so the
worst mistake people can make is to go watch the show and say well
'where's Frank and Margarita, where's…" They're not there…
So I think what people have gotta do is move forward and say 'ok you
know what, here's a new group of people. Obviously, they've been chosen
b/c they're interesting. Let's give them a shot. Let's not look back.
Let's look forward and try to dig into who these people are and stop
making the comparisons and just look at who they are. And see whether
there are characters here that we can identify with. The answer to
that, for me, is absolutely.
AUGI: One of the contestants is a nude model? What kind of element
will that bring?
PHIL: A lot of people have picked up on that and
want to ask questions about it. You know, one of the things that you
wouldn't want to rule out is the fact that maybe there's some sparks
between some of the team members…. And you know, if you think
about the dynamic of Team Guido last time, you can not have people
look good unless you have other people look bad. You gotta have the
adversary to have your heroes. People said to me 'oh man I can't believe
that Team Guido. You should have eliminated them way earlier…'
First of all it's not up to me. They gotta do their own thing, but
second of all, if you took them out of the race last year, it's a
totally different show. I mean we needed that. Because then it made
the other teams step up and stand up for other teams. It made for
a dynamic between the teams you didn't have before so you know, you
gotta have adversaries. You gotta have some tension and friction.
AUGI: In terms of being a post-9/11 world we live in now, …
because you guys are running all over the airports and all over the
world, how did that affect the race in terms of security precautions
overseas? Did it slow people down? Did it get in the way?
PHIL: The only place that we had problems travelling to any of the
destinations that we went this time was in America… I'll tell
you the reason for that. The security measures that are now in place
in the United States that we are aware of, where we are seeing armed
guards standing at these security checks where they're doing additional
security checks and additional questioning etc… A lot of those
security measures were in place in international airports way before
9/11. So while we notice a big change here domestically. Those are
things that we saw the first time in the race. You know, having traveled
all around the world, they are things that I've seen for a long, long
time. So now - with that said - we were absolutely very careful about
where the teams would be going this time and making sure that we could
insure the safety of all the teams. So there were certain countries
that we were obviously avoiding. We weren't about to go cruising through
Afghanistan or you know any other hot spots… The other thing
is we have a whole team of security people who travel around the world
- they're in front, they're in middle, they're in the back - and they're
following up all the way through just to ensure overall safety. So
you know it is absolutely important to the running of the race, that
at no point the teams feel like they're in danger. Otherwise it just
doesn't work. I venture to say this: there is not a more logistically
complicated show being made on television in the reality era that
I can think of that's like this… With this particular show, with
this series, we did 55,000 miles in 28 days.
AUGI: Going over last season, what would you say was your personal
highlight or lowlight?
PHIL: (pauses) One of the things that I missed doing last time was
to welcome the teams into the pitstop… So this time I did and
that made a big difference because it meant I had more interaction
with the teams.
AUGI: What would you say was your favorite place to visit?
PHIL: Last time my favorite place probably would have been India.
I think b/c it was so rich. All the teams basically said it was their
biggest nightmare, but from my point of view, you know I've been lucky
enough to work in about 50 different countries around the world and
my favorite thing is to always be in places where I feel a little
out of it, like where I'm challenged and where it's different, and
I hadn't been to that part of India before. And also I think it just
made for great television - to see these teams having to cope with
the immense culture shock of a different country.
AUGI: You're the host and you have to be bipartisan, but did you
have a team that you were slightly rooting for?
PHIL: The team that I was really excited about throughout were Nancy
and Emily. In terms of a life-changing experience -somebody that went
through a dramatic life-changing experience - it would be Nancy. To
see this woman that had never traveled before - who maybe just never
imagined herself doing something like this before - go as far as she
did and surprise herself and get this confidence that she got - I
mean every time I heard that they were still doing ok and that they
were still gonna stay in the race - I gotta be honest with you - I
was pleased. Just because the whole idea of them going as far as they
did sort of went against the grain a wee bit. And I think it surprised
a lot of people and it certainly surprised her. I don't think she
thought they were gonna go as far. So I was really, you know I was
upset that they were out… I was definitely rooting for her.
AUGI: Anyone on the opposite end of that? Anyone get on your nerves?
PHIL: No because if they were nice then obviously you didn't want
them to be out. And if there were things that you thought made them
a little different or made them competitive - like Team Guido - there
was obviously a lot of animosity and a lot of the audience felt that
way towards them. I loved those guys because they make great television.
And why would I want them out? I mean the longer they stay in there,
we got an interesting dynamic going on. Look, of any of the teams,
they were the most tenacious. They had the tenacity of somebody like
Richard Hatch you know? They played the game hard. They fought hard.
They got a little overconfident and cocky and they almost got out
of the race…so I mean they make great television.
AUGI: So was anything ever said (last year) when Drew and Kevin
sort of threatened Team Guido where they made the comment about breaking
their legs?
PHIL: Obviously we would take anything like that seriously and say,
'hey guys, you're not serious here right?' And you resolve it because
obviously it's not something they meant literally. It's just like
we all say 'man I'm gonna kill you' or whatever the thing is. So no
no. First of all, they're not those kind of guys and second of all,
we just wouldn't'… it wouldn't be allowed to happen because teams
are never alone. They're always with somebody. There's always security
around… You know there's a lot of background checks that go into
this. If we had people with that inclination, we've got a real problem.
If they were really gonna break their knees, then we've certainly
misjudged their character.
AUGI: You've been all over the world as a camerman, producer,
host etc… and you were on Oprah talking about your upcoming book
- which is coming out this fall - and how it's about all these things
that you want to do before you die. So how long is this list of things-to-do?
And what are your top 3 'must-do's?'
PHIL: The list started off with just 100 when I was 19 (ed note: Phil
was trapped underwater on a shipwreck and nearly drowned at this age.)
… And then I turned that into television shows. I did this show
called Phil Keoghan's Adventure Crazy which was based on the list.
I wanted to dive the world's longest underwater caves. We had a dinner
on top of a volcano. I went to a nudist resort for 3 days with a couple
who wanted to get married. I stayed in an ice hotel in Finland. You
know it was all about stuff from this list. I broke a world record
bungee jumping with eight people off a suspension bridge at one time…
So I've been working through the list. The list keeps getting longer.
The stuff that I want to do keeps increasing… So some things
that I still have down to do - I definitely would love to go to space.
That may happen soon. I mean if they get some opportunity for a journalist
to jump on board one of these space ships and get up into space. I'd
definitely like to do that. I have a movie that I would like to do.
And I'd love to go to Mount Everest.
AUGI: You're a bit of a TV addict as well. What are the 3 shows
you can't live without?
PHIL: Well, my favorite shows right now are CSI - I'm a big fan of
that show. I've been getting into Six Feet Under… I've been watching
(Project) Greenlight. I have interesting thoughts about that show.
AUGI: Why is that?
PHIL: Well I love watching it. Also, I think it's a bit of a setup.
I mean like for a guy who's been given the green light to make a movie
and has all these people around him supporting him, to turn up for
his first day of shooting - on location with two kids - the toughest
thing to ever work with on film are kids and animals - and to be shooting
under the L train in Chicago? Regardless of whether this guy was green
or not, this guy's been greenlit and you're telling me that these
people around him allowed that to happen and that that wasn't done
for the purpose of television? I kinda had a problem with that…
It's sort of like, if there wasn't a television show, would those
people have allowed him to shoot under the L train with children in
the first ever scene he was shooting in the movie? That's the question
I would have. And the answer I think to that is no. So then you wonder
how much manipulation is going on. Like how much do they say 'you
know what we're gonna do, you know obviously you never shoot with
kids and you never shoot under the L train, but you know what we'll
do, we'll all shut up. Even though we know this and we're like really
experienced producers, let's all just shut up ok? And let him walk
into it because it'll make a great moment on our show.'
AUGI: Do you watch any other reality shows?
PHIL: Not really. I'm over Survivor. I've seen that… I've got
that trick. The Fear Factor thing - if it's on and there's something
there in the moment, it's like something that I'll channel surf to.
If it's sitting there, I'll just like take a peek at it to see what's
going on, but I would never watch the whole thing. It hasn't got enough
of me. There's no dimension. It's like: good reaction - it's on TV;
bad reaction - they don't put it on. You can do it. You can't do it.
It's like very black and white. There's no grey area there for me…
You know, on our show or in Survivor, there's some dimension. You
know there's some thought-processing going on. Dynamics that are not
black and white, you know a mixture of things. But that show is very
black and white. You know, can you handle the worms or not? You gonna
get to the time or not? I feel like it's one trick over and over again.
AUGI: Can you take Jeff Probst?
PHIL: Can I take him?... Well, he's got
a cuter smile and he's got better dimples than me. (Laughs) Fucked
if I know. (laughs again) You know I know him right?
AUGI: Physically, are you guys the same build?
PHIL: No. He's smaller than me. I'm 6 foot. I think he's about 5"9
or something.
AUGI: So you could probably take him then?
PHIL: Well, I'll probably be fitter than him…But then he might
disagree. Maybe he's been working out?… I like him. He called
me to congratulate me on this thing and we talk from time to time.
I mean I have a respect for him. I'd take somebody else out before
I took him out.
AUGI: Finally, obviously you can't tell us who the winner is, but
can you give us any hint or clue as to who to watch or maybe who not
to overlook or count out immediately?
PHIL: Well, I can say that, once again, don't judge the teams by stereotypes.
You know when people wrote off the grandparents or they wrote off
the mother-daughter team early? Don't make the same mistake twice.
