The 1% Club Contestant Is Eliminated by a Tricky Number Puzzle – Could You Solve It in Just 30 Seconds?

A seemingly straightforward number puzzle proved too difficult for one contestant on The 1% Club, sending them out of the competition just moments before the game moved closer to its biggest challenges. With only 30 seconds to work out the pattern, would you have spotted the answer in time?

The popular ITV quiz show puts contestants and viewers at home to the test with questions based on logic and common sense, rather than general knowledge. Starting with problems designed to be answered by 90% of the public, the difficulty gradually increases until only the most challenging 1% question remains.

There is also a substantial prize at stake. Whenever an audience member answers incorrectly, their £1,000 contribution is added to the prize pot, creating the possibility of a significant jackpot.

The 15% question that caught a contestant out

In a repeat episode from the show’s second series, one player was eliminated after getting a 15% question wrong. The challenge required contestants to identify a connection between several numbers:

“If 2 and 3 go together, and 6 and 7 go together, which two out of 1, 4, 5, 8 and 9 are a pair?”

Everyone still in the game had just 30 seconds to figure out the hidden relationship. When the countdown ended, host Lee Mack revealed that one of the remaining contestants had failed to find the correct answer.

The solution was 4 and 5. As Lee explained, the numbers were paired with others whose names begin with the same letter when written out in English.

In other words, 2 and 3 are linked because both begin with the letter “T” when written as “two” and “three”. Likewise, “six” and “seven” both start with “S”. Applying the same rule to the remaining options reveals that “four” and “five” form the matching pair.

It was a question that demanded careful attention to the words behind the numbers, rather than their numerical values.

Another question had already eliminated six players

The 15% challenge was not the only obstacle in the episode. An earlier question, rated at 20%, had also caused problems, with six contestants eliminated after failing to identify a missing four-letter word.

Lee presented a list beginning with “spot”, alongside “pots” and “tops”, and asked players to work out which word completed the sequence.

The missing word was “Post”.

Despite these early setbacks, the episode continued until just one contestant, Brett, reached the final 1% question.

Brett risks the jackpot – and loses

By that stage, Brett had already secured £1,000. He also had the option to walk away with an additional £10,000 rather than attempt the final challenge.

However, with the possibility of claiming the entire £96,000 jackpot for himself, he chose to take the risk.

Unfortunately, his answer was incorrect, ending his chance to walk away with the life-changing prize.

Other quiz-show questions that have left contestants puzzled

The 1% Club is far from the only television quiz to challenge players with unexpected questions. Other popular programmes have also produced moments that left contestants and viewers scratching their heads.

• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Earlier in 2025, viewers questioned a particularly difficult question about the Best Actress Oscar. Host Jeremy Clarkson asked which letter had never begun the surname of a woman who won the award from the 2000 ceremony onwards. The options were G, K, M and W. Contestant Glen, who had already secured £32,000, chose G – and was correct. Winners since 2000 include Nicole Kidman, Frances McDormand and Kate Winslet.
• The 1% Club: Another question on Lee Mack’s show asked viewers to work out Amir’s birthday from the dates of Edna and Jen. Edna’s birthday was given as 6 April, while Jen’s was 15 October. The answer depended on counting the position of each number in the sentence: “6th” corresponded to the sixth word and “15th” to the fifteenth. Following the same pattern, Amir’s birthday was January 24.
• The Chase: The ITV daytime quiz also left viewers debating a question about food allergies. A contestant was asked which food someone with a nightshade intolerance should avoid: sweetcorn, potatoes or carrots. Steve selected sweetcorn, but the correct answer was potatoes.

For Brett, the final question proved to be one challenge too many. But the earlier number puzzle offers viewers at home another chance to test their own logic.

Could you have identified the connection between the numbers before the 30-second countdown ran out?

The 1% Club airs on Saturdays on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.