Having watched the show since season 1, I understand the need for bunching. The producers have little control over flights (unless they hire a charter), and they can't keep things open 24-7. Besides, it's exciting to watch the teams all grouped together closely.

HOWEVER, what the ^&*( kind of Internet cafe is only open from 10 PM - 10 AM? The only purpose to keeping those kind of hours is to bunch everyone together so everyone can get to see the wonders of mobile technology and AOL all together. Apparently Lori & Bolo didn't get the memo, but never mind.

The shark hasn't been jumped yet, but they're setting up the pool...

• RE: The most gratuitous bunching ever,Ontario TAR Fan, 11:37 AM, 12-22-04
  • RE: The most gratuitous bunching ever,Molaholic, 12:13 PM, 12-22-04
    • RE: The most gratuitous bunching ever,ElroyJetson, 12:43 PM, 12-22-04
• RE: The most gratuitous bunching ever,mikey, 01:52 PM, 12-22-04
  • If I were Lori and Bolo...,ElroyJetson, 02:22 PM, 12-22-04
    • RE: If I were Lori and Bolo...,emydi, 02:57 PM, 12-22-04
      • RE: If I were Lori and Bolo...,Starshine, 02:42 PM, 12-25-04
      • RE: If I were Lori and Bolo...,trigirl, 12:18 PM, 12-28-04
• RE: The most gratuitous bunching ever,RocketAudy, 03:22 PM, 12-22-04
  • RE: The most gratuitous bunching ever,cadfile, 03:43 AM, 12-23-04
  • RE: The most gratuitous bunching ever,ARnutz, 01:51 PM, 12-23-04

LAST EDITED ON 12-22-04 AT 11:37 AM (EST)

Credits to banzai on the Spoilers board for finding the website for the internet cafe.
http://www.net-klub.hu/index_en.html

They say that they are open "Every Day from 10AM - Midnight" - meaning that they closed specifically to create the bunching here! ARGH!

Oh com'on, you can't really think the TAR producers let something like normal operating hours influance bunching decisions. I found it very suspicious that the "hours of operation" for the Internet Cafe started at 10PM. All other "hours of operation" had things opening in the morning.

I like the way the hours of operations throughout the race are:

1) In English
2) Use the TAR colors and fonts

What a coinky-dink!

-- Elroy Jetson

I thought the most curious part was not the 10PM starting time, but the 10AM finishing time. If they had said 10PM-midnight or 10PM-2AM, I might have thought, OK, this might be kind of a hip nightspot open only at night. But the 10AM finish seems designed specifically for someone who takes the 7:30 AM train the next morning to be 9 hours behind rather than 24 hours behind (see the Guidos), which might allow some later bunching to bring everyone together again or at least give the producers the ability to fake a close finish. We might find that it takes the other teams 9 hours to download the clue at the internet cafe because AOL works so slowly in Hungary. Or maybe Lori and Bolo, in hanging out in the train station overnight, suddenly find a fast forward everyone else missed.

Call me paranoid, but I suspect it did not originally say 10PM to 10AM, but rather said 10PM to something else -- I might go back and check the tape to hear if anyone of the contestants read the whole sign, or merely said "it opens at 10"

I would also like to go back and look at the tape closely to see if the place seemed to be open to the public at 7Pm or 9PM when all these teams arrived. Perhaps, during August, this place closes to the public at 10PM rather than 12PM, and they could only do filiming during the closed hours of 10P to 10A.

....knowing that I was WAY behind and likely to lose, I would have taken a cab or other alternate transportation to Budapest. Instead of waiting in a train station for 10 hours I would have risked the 30 minute or 1 hour time penalty I would have incurred by taking incorrect transportation.

-- Elroy Jetson

I thought of that too Elroy but I think the clue said you HAD to take the train...would they just get a time penalty or would they make them go back and take the train the next morning????

Didn't they penalise Momily 24 hours in TAR?

Exactly. Go for the penalty.

Take a train to Budapest. Well could you catch that train from somewhere other than Eger? Sure. Take a taxi to some other town and then get a train.

Plus, the bunching made the "To Be Continued..." ending even nuttier.

Usually a cliffhanger should end on a very dramatic suspenseful moment, where you're at the edge of your seat wondering what was going to happen next. (hence the name cliffhanger.) Most of the show's cutaways to commercial are little cliffhangers. THIS episode ended with Lori and Bolo asleep on a bench and most of the rest of the teams sitting on the sidewalk in front of the internet cafe waiting for it to open.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?????

Oh, they'll probably stand on that sidewalk a little while longer and Lori and Bolo will continue sleeping till morning.

LAST EDITED ON 12-23-04 AT 03:45 AM (EST)

It was strange that the place opened at 10 PM. They must have rented it for the night.

Rolo and Moobs train leaves at 3:45 am I believe so they could still get their special AOL Hell mail. If they had been smarter and not decided to be on the flight that left first and arrived last they might have made the last train and arrived at the cafe by 10.

It was an obvious bunch up setup like the Olympic Stadium at the start of the leg.

...THIS episode ended with Lori and Bolo asleep on a bench and most of the rest of the teams sitting on the sidewalk in front of the internet cafe waiting for it to open.

Yeah! It would have been better if they left it with Adam & Rebecca still waiting for the train, not knowing if Lori & Bolo would make it.

Oh and all the other teams were there b/c Adam & Rebecca tgot to the cafe and told everyone that Lori & Bolo were still behind them.

Mon Dieu, Mon Cherie... c'est magnifique!!!