25 Years of The Amazing Race: Our Conversation With Phil Keoghan

Editor’s Note: The Amazing Race is celebrating 25 years on television, making this a fitting time to revisit our conversation with longtime host Phil Keoghan. In this World Footprints episode, Phil talks about travel, risk and the near-death experience that inspired his “No Opportunity Wasted” philosophy. The episode also features Raw Travel creator Robert Rose, a journey through Dominica and The Great Human Race co-host Cat Bigney.

As The Amazing Race celebrates 25 years on television, we’re revisiting our Phil Keoghan Amazing Race interview about travel, risk and making the most of opportunity.

Keoghan, the longtime host of the CBS series, joined World Footprints to talk about how The Amazing Race reflects his own approach to life and travel. He also shared the near-death experience that inspired his philosophy of leaving “No Opportunity Wasted.”

This episode also features Raw Travel creator Robert Rose, a closer look at Dominica and a conversation with The Great Human Race co-host Cat Bigney.

Phil Keoghan on The Amazing Race, Travel and Taking Chances

Phil Keoghan has become one of television’s most recognizable travel hosts as the longtime host and executive producer of CBS’s The Amazing Race.

Since the series premiered in 2001, competitors have raced around the world, confronting language barriers, unfamiliar transportation systems, physical challenges and cultures far removed from their own.

In our conversation, however, we wanted to know more about the person standing at the mat.

Phil talks with us about how The Amazing Race mirrors his own life and his lifelong passion for travel. He also shares the story of a near-death experience he had as a young man—an experience that changed how he viewed time, risk and missed opportunities.

It eventually inspired his No Opportunity Wasted, or NOW, philosophy: an encouragement to stop postponing the experiences that matter.

That idea feels particularly appropriate for a show built around people stepping into the unknown.

Travel on The Amazing Race is fast, unpredictable and highly competitive. Real travel doesn’t have to involve a race to a Pit Stop, but both can force us outside familiar routines. We may have to communicate without a shared language, find our way through an unfamiliar place or rely on people we have only just met.

Those moments often become the stories we remember.

The Amazing Race at 25

When The Amazing Race debuted on September 5, 2001, the way many people experienced the wider world was very different.

There was no Instagram or TikTok. Smartphones hadn’t yet become our maps, translators, cameras and travel planners. For many television viewers, seeing teams navigate cities, villages and landscapes around the world offered an unusually immediate window into places they might never have visited.

Twenty-five years later, the technology surrounding travel has changed dramatically, but the basic appeal of the show remains remarkably familiar: curiosity about what is around the next corner.

CBS is celebrating the anniversary in 2026 as the series begins its 39th season.

Our conversation with Phil took place years before this milestone, but his thoughts about travel, uncertainty and making the most of opportunity have aged particularly well.

Robert Rose and the Rise of Socially Conscious Travel

Travel television can do more than show viewers where to go.

Robert Rose, creator, executive producer and host of Raw Travel, joined us to talk about using travel television to look beneath the surface of a destination.

Rose left the corporate world and turned his love of travel into a television series focused on authentic cultural experiences, independent travel and social and environmental responsibility.

Raw Travel incorporates themes such as ecotourism, voluntourism, social issues, adventure and community connections rather than concentrating solely on resorts and conventional sightseeing.

During our conversation, Robert discusses his travels in Africa, the responsibility travelers have toward the places they visit and our shared belief that meaningful travel begins with engaging with local communities rather than simply observing them.

That approach remains central to Raw Travel today. The independently produced series now has more than 200 episodes and continues to focus on socially and environmentally conscious travel.

Discovering Dominica Beyond the Beaches

Our journey then takes us to Dominica, the Caribbean’s mountainous “Nature Island.”

Waterfalls plunge through rainforest, volcanic landscapes shape much of the interior and hiking trails lead deep into terrain that feels very different from the beach-centered image often associated with Caribbean travel.

One of those landscapes is Trafalgar Falls, a pair of waterfalls surrounded by dense rainforest near Roseau.

But Dominica’s story extends beyond its extraordinary natural environment.

We speak with then-Dominica Tourism Director Colin Piper about the island’s culture, people and Indigenous heritage.

Dominica is home to the Kalinago, the Indigenous people of the island and the Lesser Antilles. Many live within the approximately 3,700-acre Kalinago Territory on Dominica’s northeastern coast, where cultural traditions including canoe building, basketry, wood carving and other practices continue.

For travelers, understanding that history adds another layer to experiencing an island frequently described primarily through its rainforests, rivers and waterfalls.

What The Great Human Race Says About Our Shared Humanity

Finally, we go much farther back in the human travel story.

National Geographic’s The Great Human Race retraced routes associated with early human migration, exploring how our ancestors may have survived as they moved across different environments.

Outdoor survival guide and co-host Cat Bigney traveled through challenging landscapes while attempting to rely on tools and techniques available to early humans.

She joins us to discuss what those experiences taught her about survival, movement and human connection.

One lesson proved surprisingly simple.

Even when travelers don’t share a language, basic human gestures—including a smile—can cross barriers.

From contestants racing around the planet to Indigenous communities preserving traditions passed through generations, this episode ultimately returns to the same idea: travel connects us most powerfully when we pay attention to the people we encounter along the way.

Listen to This World Footprints Episode

Hear our conversations with Phil Keoghan of The Amazing Race, Robert Rose of Raw Travel, Dominica tourism leader Colin Piper and The Great Human Race co-host Cat Bigney.

And as The Amazing Race marks 25 years of racing around the world, Phil’s message remains worth revisiting:

Don’t wait indefinitely to experience the world—or the opportunities that matter to you.

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