I don't understand why Adam & Dane were disqualified becos per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race#Money :-
"If team members spend all of their money or have it taken away in a non-elimination Leg, they may try to get more money in any way that does not violate the local laws. This includes borrowing money from other teams, begging from locals or selling their possessions. Since season seven, teams have been prevented from begging at United States airports. Additionally, teams may not use their personal possessions to barter payment for services."
Unless the above applies to TAR US editions only? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race_Australia ) = "Most of the rules and penalties are adopted directly from the American edition; but in some of cases, the Australian version has been seen to have a unique set of additional rules."
Hmmm I was actually pondering the same thing. It's kind of a gray area I guess, where they are making the rules as they come along and judge it per situation. I remember a similar situation I think on TAR where a team got 4 hours penalty for selling their stuff too.
So I can see why they want to be consistent, but at the same time, the begging for money wasn't a problem before and now this is. It does feel a little off, especially since this is the second time a team has gotten themselves into real trouble (this time alas fatally so) by being clearly ripped off by a taxidriver.
I'm not sure whether this is just naivety of some of these teams in how to deal with taxidrivers in some countries (i.e. negotiate a price in advance often works better even if they have a taximeter, because the taximeters can have different increments, they'll just change it if they think their ride can afford it in some cases..) . In places like India that is definitely something to be aware of. Yet I kinda doubt that the other teams took a lot of precautions of this type either.
Either way I agree with you that it seems muddled waters really, when sometimes it sways in someone's favor and sometimes it doesn't. It feels even more off because they otherwise ran a decent enough leg and were out by just a few minutes, beaten by some teams that did significantly worse.