‘The Amazing Race’ Premiere: Phil Keoghan on Why Supersized Season Won’t ‘Jump the Shark’ (VIDEO)

The 13 teams of The Amazing Race Season 35 have lost the non-elimination leg safety net. Host Phil Keoghan informed the players of that change in the Wednesday, September 27 premiere on CBS, which came on right after the Survivor 45 premiere’s shocking elimination.

Keoghan came by TV Insider’s office on premiere day to preview what’s to come in the new, supersized season (Amazing Race and Survivor have 90-minute episodes this season). And the truth of the matter is, outside of episode time and some slight format tweaks, nothing really changes. With long-running hit shows like this, you don’t want to jump the shark, as Keoghan tells us.

“I would say that the number one question I get from people is, ‘What’s changed, what’s new, and what’s different about this season?'” he says, adding, that after 35 seasons, “it seems to be a lead question for a lot of people.”

“I always try to preface my answer by saying, when you think about the most successful shows, they’re the ones that are consistently good but consistently the same,” he explains. “One of the most successful shows in television history is 60 Minutes. Three stories in an hour, with a little wrap up piece at the end. Show really hasn’t changed. They don’t try tricks and twists and turns and try to mess with the format. It’s a great format … They just do the same thing over and over again, and they do it consistently well. And that’s what I feel we need to focus on on Amazing Race and something that is very important to us.”

‘The Amazing Race’ host Phil Keoghan filming at the TV Insider office on Wednesday, September 27, 2023 (Credit: Ennica Jacob/TV Insider)

“Don’t try to jump the shark,” Keoghan adds, referencing the infamous Happy Days episode where Henry Winkler‘s Fonzie tries to jump over a shark in the show’s attempt to boost ratings. He puts it simply: “If it ain’t broke, then don’t try to fix it.”

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Meet Supersized Cast of 'The Amazing Race' Season 35

Indeed, The Amazing Race doesn’t need much changing. But adding some slight twists, like eliminating non-elimination legs, is a simple way to raise the stakes. “We do have an Express pass this season, and we do have a U-turn where everybody will be involved in the U-turn, so there are a couple of things,” he shares. But at the end of the day, “we have a great format.”

“The format is dynamic: teams of two, racing around the world, following a series of clues, doing amazing things in incredible places. If we can continue to do that well, the audience will continue to turn up. That’s it,” he says. The hours and hours of footage the show collects over its 21-day filming process provides more than enough recordings to fill up this season’s extra screen time. Upping the number of teams from 11 to 13 helped fill that extra time, but other than that, fans will be treated to getting extra screen time with the contestants instead of seeing new gimmicks.

“We have a little bit more time to add context and to add more character into the show” with this new runtime, Keoghan notes. “But we got to get the basics right.”

The TV Insider staff tried out the basics in our office with Keoghan, who graciously indulged our idea to play The Amazing Race: TV Insider Edition. See the sketch in the video above, and be sure to tune into The Amazing Race‘s supersized Season 35.

The Amazing Race, Wednesdays, 9:30/8:30c, CBS