The Amazing Adventures of Phil Keoghan

Phil Keoghan, host of the popular and award-winning reality show The Amazing Race, is the heart and soul of the show. While the contestants change from season to season, and the locations change from minute to minute, we can always count on Phil's reassuring presence at every pit stop along the way.

His most famous tagline is what he tells the straggling teams who show up last: "I'm sorry to tell you you have been eliminated." What makes the line so effective is that Phil really does seem sorry when he says it.

The job of Phil and the production team is harder than it looks. Phil and the team have to race to keep ahead of the contestants. They have to stay at the pit stop until the last contestants stagger in, then be at the next pit stop before the winners of the next leg show up. That leaves no time, alas, for sitting around a hotel pool sipping pina coladas, Phil said on the Late Late Show on February 25, 2011.

While not busy on The Amazing Race, Phil is involved in promoting causes near to his heart. Last month, he returned to Christchurch, his hometown in New Zealand, where many buildings and roads had been destroyed by an earthquake. In a report for The Early Show, Phil showed some of the damage and talked about how local students were organizing to help. He also appealed directly to Americans, asking them to help his country by coming for a visit. Tourism is such a large and essential part of New Zealand's economy, that if people cancelled their trips, it would be devastating. The earthquake damage was confined to a small area of the country, and the rest, Phil said, was "open for business."

In 2009, Phil rode a bicycle across America, from Los Angeles to New York, to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. A film called The Ride documents his trip, which raised over half a million dollars. The trip was also a personal journey, the biggest physical challenge of his life and one he undertook as he was turning 40 and wanting to prove to himself that he was not limited by age. His involvement with the MS cause continues, and in March 2001 he gave a talk at the IHRSA (the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association) convention in San Francisco about raising money for MS.

Phil has won seven Emmy awards for his role as host of The Amazing Race. The show continues to be popular and has inspired spin-offs around the world. You can keep up with Phil's news on his Twitter account: @PhilKeoghan.