Tragedy has hit a team in charge of facilitating challenges for “The Amazing Race” and other reality shows on the continent of Africa, a source close to the show tells FoxNews.com.
At least two freelance facilitating producers were poisoned -- one fatally -- after a failed shakedown attempt, the source told FoxNews.com.
FoxNews.com also spoke with a person who identified herself as a family member who said the facilitator who died was Jeff Rice.
The family member said Rice's body was found in Uganda.
Details are sketchy, but the source said that after refusing to give in to the demands of local thugs, Rice and another facilitator ended up very sick with poisoning of some kind.
Rice was not currently working on “The Amazing Race,” but he had worked on Season 20, which premiered on CBS on Sunday. Rice had also worked on Animal Planet's "Whale Wars" and the South African version of "The Biggest Loser," along with several other series and television movies.
A rep for Jerry Bruckheimer Films, the production company behind “The Amazing Race,” said that he had “no knowledge” of the incident.
CBS had no comment.
Facilitators are typically local people hired by production companies to make necessary arrangements with local officials before producers come in to shoot scenes for their shows.
“The Amazing Race” features multiple teams of two competing in a race around the world to win $1,000,000 in prize money. The series became a sensation when it first aired on CBS in September 2001 and continues to be one of the network's highest rated shows.
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