Viewers of ITV's popular quiz show, The 1% Club, were left utterly bewildered during Saturday's episode after a notoriously difficult final maths question eliminated three of the four remaining contestants.
The Final Hurdle: A Square Counting Conundrum
The premise of the show, hosted by the quick-witted Lee Mack, is to find the cleverest minds in the country by navigating a series of questions that test logic and common sense, rather than general knowledge. The ultimate goal for the finalists is to secure a cash prize of up to £100,000.
However, this particular episode reached its climax with a visual brain-teaser that proved too much for most. The final challenge presented the contestants with a detailed image composed of squares within squares. With the clock ticking, Lee Mack posed the question: 'How many squares are there in this image?' The contestants had a mere 30 seconds to analyse the picture and provide their answer.
Viewers React to the Puzzle Pandemonium
The pressure of the moment was palpable, and the results were chaotic. In a telling sign of the question's difficulty, all four finalists submitted different answers. Ultimately, only one contestant, Martin, triumphed with the correct solution. The elusive answer was not a simple figure, but a total of 46 squares.
The confusion wasn't confined to the studio. At home, audiences quickly took to social media platform X to voice their own struggles and astonishment. One defeated viewer admitted, 'No way I would have gotten that one.' Another exclaimed, 'That last question was a liberty. I thought I did something getting 32!!! #The1PercentClub.'
Some sharp-eyed viewers who managed to crack the code explained their reasoning online. One breakdown detailed: '46 (16 small squares, 16 1x1 squares, 9 2x2 squares, 4 3x3 squares, 1 4x4 big square).' Another confessed it was a narrow victory, writing, 'Only just [got the answer] in the end…. Changed my answer with a few seconds spare. Saw a few more that I’d have otherwise missed and lost out on. #The1PercentClub.'
A Triumphant Winner and a Popular Host
Despite the puzzle's ferocity, the episode ended on a high note with Martin's impressive victory, netting him a life-changing £95,000. One fan praised the group, saying, 'All 4 finalists played & they all gave us 4 very different answers. Thankfully, one of those answers turned out to be correct. Congratulations Martin on winning £95k! #The1PercentClub'.
The show's success was recently recognised at the National Television Awards, where it won Best Quiz Game Show. Reflecting on its popularity, Lee Mack expressed his delight and a touch of self-deprecating humour. Looking ahead to the 2025 series, he joked about the responsibility of hosting, stating, 'Let's be honest, the fact that I haven't accidentally given a hundred grand to the wrong person or read out the answer instead of the question is as much a surprise to me as it is to everyone else.'
The 1% Club continues to captivate audiences, airing on ITV1 and available for streaming on ITVX.
