Phil Keoghan, very much alive and kicking, tells LOUISA CLEAVE about his breakthrough in the competitive TV world of action-packed outdoor adventure.
Dining on top of a volcano, diving in the world's longest underwater cave and white-water rafting down the Jordan River are all in a day's work for Phil Keoghan.
But for a while it looked as though not one TV producer in America was interested in his do-or-die wish-list.
Keoghan had been a familiar face in television during the late 80s and early 90s before leaping head-first into the US television industry.
Tune in to Sky's Discovery Channel at 11 am today and you will see exactly what he's been up to. As host and executive producer of Adventure Crazy he's been asked to do some things no one in their right mind would want to do.
The former host of shows such as Spot On, 3.45 Live, That's Fairly Interesting, Yahoo and Short Sportz has surfaced in Auckland for a quick breather in his new action-packed lifestyle.
It has been eight years since Keoghan packed his bags for New York and headed off with an enthusiastic Kiwi attitude and the encouraging words from Sam Neill ringing in his ears. He had written to the actor for advice. "I was thinking, `I have to put myself in a different environment, test myself and try new challenges,"' Keoghan said yesterday during a two-week visit home.
Neill's letter - now framed and hanging in Keoghan's Los Angeles home - was a "defining moment" for the young presenter and encouraged him to take a chance.
Keoghan recalls arriving in New York and cold-calling agents who did not return his messages. Finally, one tired of being pestered by Keoghan and phoned back.
Keoghan convinced the agent to see him and they talked for two hours, during which an audition for MTV came up. Keoghan was offered a job, but unfortunately the Kiwi import was without a green card to work in America.
The paperwork was eventually sorted after Keoghan landed a job as a roving reporter on a live breakfast show on the Fox cable network.
He carved his niche for action television with stunts like changing a light bulb on top of a 210m bridge in New York.
"We had crazy stuff happen, like Gladys Knight in the studio singing while I was live in the Bahamas feeding sharks," Keoghan says. "It was such a stimulating show it couldn't maintain that level of intensity. It got critical acclaim and it was decided to put it on the Fox network. But unfortunately they had to start making rules."
Keoghan clocked up three years of television on the show and formed an alliance with the two Australians who had launched the career of Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan, Peter Faiman and Peter Howden.
They came up with the idea to take the live television discipline and apply it to a taped series which would be filmed at fast pace.
"We didn't know whether it was going to work or not. Discovery wanted a show that was edgy, that breaks the rules and takes some risks. So we did."
Keoghan says the style of filming meant there would be no voice-over added later to connect the dots.
"Everything we say in the story all had to be in the moment. We shot entire shows anywhere from 24 hours to 72 hours. We shot 26 half-hour shows in 13 weeks."
Keoghan did not shy away from any of the activities - they were his list of dream adventures to do before dying.
One was to promote New Zealand with an eight-person bungi jump in Queenstown.
"One of the things about the show is that it is accessible," Keoghan says. "There is nothing we do, barring diving in the world's longest underwater caves, that any average Joe couldn't do."
Keoghan always had an adventurous attitude, but these days he likes meeting people who will give anything crazy a go rather than those interested purely in extreme-sport.
"Being adventurous is an individual thing so I always say don't measure it against the extreme people. "I like anything different, crave different things and think inherently we all do, but sometimes we get comfortable with life and don't want to let go and push ourselves because it feels uncomfortable."
TV: Phil Keoghan's chance to do-or-die
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