The 1% Club’s £97,000 Jackpot Goes Unclaimed as Five Finalists Fail to Solve Fiendish Puzzle
Five contestants reached the final stage of The 1% Club, but none could solve the last question in just 30 seconds, leaving the entire £97,000 prize pot unclaimed. Despite their progress through the ITV quiz show, the finalists were unable to spot a word connection that seemed much easier once host Lee Mack revealed the answer.
The episode had already delivered a major shake-up early in the competition, with 16 players eliminated on the second question alone. But the toughest test was still waiting for the five contestants who survived until the end.
Five Finalists Face a Tricky Word Puzzle
Lee Mack presented the remaining players with a challenge designed to test their ability to recognise a hidden connection.
He asked: “What new word links the capitalised words below?”
The sentence displayed on screen read:
“My SON TED ate raw FOOD and got SICK, then went to BED with me by his SIDE.”
With only 30 seconds to identify the word linking all six capitalised terms, the contestants had to think quickly.
As the clock counted down, the five players tried to work out the connection. However, none managed to find the correct solution before time expired.
Lee then asked each contestant to share their answer. One admitted they had not written anything down, while another suggested “well”. A third contestant put forward “new”.
Unfortunately, none of the five guesses was correct, bringing their hopes of winning the £97,000 jackpot to an end.
Can You Crack the Final Question?
The answer Lee revealed was “SEA”.
The trick was to add the word “sea” to the beginning of each capitalised term to create a new word. For instance, SON becomes SEASON, while TED becomes SEATED.
The same principle applies to the other words in the sentence, creating new words from FOOD, SICK, BED and SIDE.
Although the solution became clearer once Lee explained the pattern, none of the finalists managed to identify it within the 30-second time limit.
As a result, the entire £97,000 prize pot remained unclaimed, making for a frustrating finish after five contestants had made it all the way to the final challenge.
An Earlier Question Eliminates 16 Contestants
The final puzzle was not the only question that caused problems during the episode. Earlier, 16 contestants were knocked out on the second question, which was intended to be answered correctly by 80% of people.
Players were shown three images: a ball of string, a metallic square and a cloud with a face blowing air.
Lee asked: “In this cryptic puzzle, where would you find the following images?”
The contestants had three possible answers to choose from:
- In an orchestra
- In a cinema
- On a football pitch
The correct answer was “In an orchestra”.
The images represented string, brass and wind — three sections of an orchestra. Contestants who failed to recognise the connection were eliminated from the game.
With 16 players already out after just the second question, the competition had taken a difficult turn early on. And when all five finalists subsequently failed to solve the last puzzle, the episode ended without anyone claiming the £97,000 jackpot.
Could you have spotted the connection before the 30 seconds ran out?
