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An Amazing Race producer was found dead in his hotel room in Africa following an alleged botched shakedown by local thugs. His assistant was also poisoned in the same hotel and was found in a critical condition. More after the jump…

The man who died was later identified as Jeff Rice, a family man and father of two. He was a freelancing facilitating producer and had worked on previous seasons of The Amazing Race as well as on Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars” and the South African version of “The Biggest Loser.” His body was found in his hotel room in Uganda. His female production assistant, who has not been identified, was found in a coma in the same hotel and remains in hospital.

Rice’s widow, Sally Blackman, said the following in a report with Fox News,

They were not attacked but [evidence] points towards being poisoned…His production assistant was also discovered in a coma and has been hospitalised in Uganda. She has not shown any improvement as yet.

Details surrounding the incident are sketchy at best, but it is believed that Rice and his assistant refused to give in to the demands of local thugs and were subsequently poisoned. Facilitators like him are hired by production teams to make the necessary arrangements with locals before a project can begin.

According to a rep from Jerry Bruckheimer, the production company behind The Amazing Race, they had no knowledge of the incident.

[Source: Fox News, Daily Mail]