#Phil Keoghan Reflects on 20 Years & Offers a Season 33 Update

In a year and a half where most people have missed out on traveling, shows like The Amazing Race are usually a great escape.

Debuting September 5, 2001, the show hosted by Phil Keoghan has just celebrated its 20th anniversary with the promise of Season 33 on the horizon. Season 32 aired amid the pandemic, but was finished taping prior to shutdowns in March 2020, making for a long gap between the show’s most recent December 2020 finale and its next premiere.

The show’s extended hiatus makes its promised return all the more anticipated, and Keoghan is grateful for the fans’ continued support over the years and believes the show promotes positivity with its adventures. “I think more than ever, The Amazing Race is an important show to be on the air, because we need to start celebrating some of the better things in the world,” shares Keoghan. “We’ve been getting stuck and weighted down with what’s wrong, and The Amazing Race is a lot about what’s right and opening people’s eyes up to some of the more positive things that we should be celebrating, including the human spirit.”

“So it makes me feel great that we’ve lasted this long,” he admits. Currently the showrunner of CBS’s other reality hit Tough as Nails (returning October 6), Keoghan will continue to also follow teams of two around the globe for one of TV’s most ambitious competition series due in part to the high quality of its production.

“I think we’ve lasted this long because of the tremendous quality of the show we’ve managed to produce for 20 years,” Keoghan muses. “A lot of hardworking, talented people have poured their heart and soul into it.”

And they’re still at it as Keoghan offers an update on Season 33, which is tentatively planned to air next year. “We’ve started pre-production, and now we’re going through the process of, how do we do this? When do we do this? What does it look like? How is it different from what it was before? How do we engage the viewers working with different rules, essentially?”

“I’ve shot two seasons now of Tough as Nails during COVID. It’s very different,” Keoghan says of the experience, but notes, “Shooting Tough as Nails in L.A. is very different from suddenly expanding that stage to something global.”

While it may take more time, Keoghan wants to reassure fans of The Amazing Race, saying, “We’re going to do it. What I can tell you is there is absolutely no doubt. CBS is committed to doing it. And it will happen. The question is just a matter of when and how, and that’s exactly what we’re doing right now.”

As plans for the upcoming season continue, stay tuned for updates and don’t miss Keoghan as he returns for Season 3 of Tough as Nails this fall on CBS.

The Amazing Race, Season 33, TBA, CBS