It's a race around the world for a million dollars or more. It’s also the biggest show on TV that has the couch potatoes of the nation that sent Man to the Moon eating their nails.Recently, Amazing Race, the reality television show of the CBS Television of USA, entertainment conglomerate that produces the other popular reality television series Survivor, was here, in Kerala. In a reported $ 10 million confidentiality clause, the show, shot in locations in Kochi and Alappuzha, was done under a strict veil of secrecy. Sources said the Kerala leg of the adventure was the last in the country with shoots in Kolkata and Mumbai already completed.The thriller has seven teams of two contestants each — pitted against each other and the clock — said Earthcare, the Delhi-based company coordinating the shoot in the country, in a letter written to Municipal Council of Alappuzha seeking permission.The programme got the go-ahead from the MEA, subject to clauses, and will be previewed by the Embassy of India, Washington, before being aired on prime time TV.Among the activities the contestants participated in were a traditional bull race, carrying bundles of coir on elephants, riding a cyclerickshaw with chicken crates and a night on a rice boat, said Earthcare producer Kavita Das Gupta.‘‘I have never seen a woman take part in a cattle race in the 25 years of my career,’’ said Kumaran who took part in the trial runs. Eight elephants were rented for the race from Cherthala, Alappuzha and Kollam. John Abraham of Insight Tours and Travels, which conducts ground-handling services for visitors, called it an adventure tour programme that would boost tourism prospects of the state. When contacted, District Collector K.M. Ramanadan said a foreign company had approached him for permission a few weeks back. ‘‘But they never came again, nor did I give them a written permission,’’ he said.
