Seizing opportunities with Phil Keoghan

Kiwi Phil Keoghan has gone from children's' television presenter to host of one of the most popular and critically acclaimed reality television shows in the world. Now he's back in New Zealand and looking for Kiwis to join him on a new adventure.

Keoghan started on television at the age of 18, beginning his career in 1987 as a presenter on Kiwi kids show Spot On!

"I started in Christchurch straight out of school, because in those days you couldn't do a broadcasting degree. The only opportunity you had was to just get a job and there were very few of those and I was lucky enough to get one," Keoghan told Close Up.

He has hosted a number of extreme sports shows in the United States but he became recognised the world over with his presenting role on the reality television show The Amazing Race.

The Amazing Race, which screens in New Zealand on TV2, pits teams of two against each other in a race around the world. Teams have to make their way from country to country on everything from bicycles to camels with limited time and cash, facing language barriers and cultural differences.

The show has won a handful of Emmy Awards for best reality programme.

Keoghan says that a lot of hardwork got him where he is today.

"There are a lot of people that have more talent than me that would have given up a lot earlier. I think I'm stubborn and determined... I just stuck at it and kept going and going."

Keoghan is more than just a television presenter he is also author of NOW: No Opportunity Wasted, which became a number one best seller in New Zealand. He says he gets frustrated by people who have potential but who don't take risks because they are scared of failing. The book addresses those sort of issues. It is based on eight themes. Face Your Fear Take a Leap of Faith Aim for the Heart Get Lost Test Your Limits Shed Your Inhibitions/Express Yourself Rediscover Your Childhood Break New Ground Keoghan says he is incredibly proud of the book as he spent so long working on it and was turned down by a number of publishers before it came to fruition.

The book has become the source of a new show created by Keoghan and he is back in New Zealand to find Kiwis for our version of it. "What I want to do with bringing the show to New Zealand is I really want people to remember people like Ernest Rutherford, people who said 'we didn't have money so we had to think'... I want people to start thinking in a resourceful way again."

NOW gives people 72 hours and the opportunity to carry out their dream.

"The two biggest excuses that people have about not doing things is that they don't have money and they don't have time. So the show gives them limited time and limited money."