The 1% Club Question Eliminates 25 Contestants as Lee Mack Jokes It Could Be the Shortest Show Ever

A single question sent 25 contestants crashing out of The 1% Club during Saturday night’s episode, leaving host Lee Mack joking that the programme was in danger of becoming the shortest show ever.

The hit ITV game show returned on 7 March for series 5, episode 13, with 100 contestants hoping to make it through the increasingly difficult challenges and claim the top prize of £100,000.

Hosted by comedian Lee Mack, the programme puts players through a series of puzzles designed to test their logic and reasoning. The questions begin at a level that 90% of the population are expected to answer correctly, according to the show’s creators, before gradually becoming more challenging. The ultimate test is the 1% question, which only the sharpest contestants are expected to solve.

One Question Sends 25 Players Home

The dramatic moment came during the 70% question, which asked contestants to study a table showing jar lids and open jars.

The challenge was worded as follows:

“Here is a table of jar lids and open jars. If you were to place the lids back on the jars, how many lids would be left over on the table?”

The correct answer was three. However, the seemingly straightforward puzzle proved more difficult than expected, with 25 contestants failing to get it right and being eliminated.

As the elimination sounds rang out across the studio, Lee, 57, admitted he had briefly worried that the departures would not stop.

“For a minute then, I was worried that wasn’t going to stop and it was the shortest show we’ve ever had!” he joked.

He then confirmed the answer, saying: “We lost 25 people there, let’s have a look at the answer… it’s three! A lot of people went out on that one!”

Zoe Wins an Incredible £97,000

Despite the mass elimination earlier in the programme, the episode ended on a high note for contestant Zoe, who successfully answered the final 1% question and walked away with an impressive £97,000.

Her challenge was to identify the word represented by the times displayed on five clocks. The clocks showed:

• 12pm
• 1am
• 2pm
• 5pm
• 12am

Zoe correctly worked out that the answer was “label”. The solution relied on recognising that the hour numbers corresponded to the positions of the letters in the word within the alphabet.

Her success left her visibly stunned, with the delighted winner exclaiming: “Oh my God!”

Viewers Find the Final Puzzle Difficult

While Zoe managed to crack the last challenge, viewers watching at home had mixed reactions to its difficulty.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, some viewers admitted they had struggled to work out the answer. One person wrote: “No because the question was impossible!”

Another commented: “Nah couldnt guess the last question.”

A further viewer felt the explanation was too rushed, arguing that audiences needed more time to understand the reasoning behind the show’s most challenging puzzles.

“No. The explanation was too quick. I wish more time was allocated to explaining the answer to the 1% question, as it’s always the most tricky, but the explanation is always rushed,” they wrote.

With 25 players eliminated by a single earlier question and Zoe going on to secure £97,000, the episode delivered plenty of drama for The 1% Club fans.

The 1% Club airs every Saturday night on ITV and ITVX.