The 1% Club is an ITV quiz show which started in 2022, hosted by Lee Mack. Unlike most other quiz shows which are based on knowledge, this one deals with "logic & common sense."
Format[]
Contestants must answer questions only a percentage of 1,000 members of the British public would get right to win up to £100,000. The questions themselves are based on observation and deduction, and thus require clever thinking. For example (and this one's been used on the show): "If planet 'Earth' has a 'heart', what body part does 'Mars' have?" The correct answer in this case is "arms", because the body parts are anagrams of the planets.
100 contestants assemble in the studio per episode, each starting with £1,000. They have 30 seconds to answer each question and must secretly lock in their answers with their devices. If any of the 100 answers incorrectly, they are eliminated, and their £1,000 is added to the prize pot. They start with questions 90% of the public got right, but as the game progresses, questions are asked that gradually smaller percentages answered correctly, all the way down to a question that only 10 people in 1,000, or 1%, got right.
After the 60% question (Question 4), those remaining have the option to "pay for a pass" on any one question (expect the 1% question). When contestants use this option, they forfeit their £1,000 to the prize pot; however, if they haven't done so before the 30% question (Question 9), they're then given a one-time option to either continue playing or walk away with their £1,000.
Those answering the 5% question correctly (Question 14) or having advanced farthest in the game become finalists. At that point, each can either walk away with a share of £10,000 or play the 1% question to win all the money accumulated in the prize pot during the show; however, those who haven't paid for a pass receive their £1,000 guaranteed. When attempting the 1% question, those who are right win an equal share of the pot, while those who are wrong leave with nothing at all (unless they haven't paid for a pass, in which case they still take home their £1,000).
Questions[]
| Question | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 1 | 90% |
| 2 | 80% |
| 3 | 70% |
| 4 | 60% |
| 5 | 50% |
| 6 | 45% |
| 7 | 40% |
| 8 | 35% |
| 9 | 30% |
| 10 | 25% |
| 11 | 20% |
| 12 | 15% |
| 13 | 10% |
| 14 | 5% |
| 15 | 1% |
Other details[]
- The show was regularly pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show was planned to film in April 2020, yet amid the first UK lockdown this was postponed until January 2021, and then due to the second lockdown it was postponed once again.
- The first series eventually aired as a series of eight hour-long episodes in 2022 and then the second series launched a downloadable play-along app for the first time and also had eight episodes in 2023 and will air two Christmas specials in 2023 and 2024 and sixteen episodes will make the third series in 2024.