The 1% Club baffles viewers with 'simple' letters question - can you crack it?

ITV's hit game show The 1% Club left contestants and viewers scratching their heads this week, thanks to a deceptively simple question that proved trickier than expected. Hosted by comedian Lee Mack, the show is known for testing logic and reasoning over general knowledge-and one early-round puzzle had many completely stumped.

The show features 100 players whose reasoning is tested until they reach their limits, with everyone hoping to make it to the end of the show and answer the final elusive question that statistically only 1% of the nation would get correct.

At the 80% part of the game, three players dropped out after becoming baffled by a seemingly simple word problem. "This one should be easy," Lee told the 100 hopeful players. "Eighty per cent of the public got it right."

The task? Insert a vegetable into a five-letter word ending in "_ _ _CH" to form a fruit. Sounds straightforward, right? Not quite.

Lee quipped, "Please do not try inserting vegetables at home. Our contestants are trained professionals."

After 30 tense seconds, three players were knocked out as they were unable to come up with the right answer: "Pea", which turns "_ _ _ C H" into "Peach."

One of those caught out was English student Chloe, who admitted her guess was simply: "Veg." Lee couldn't hide his reaction. "Veg? That would've been a hell of a clue," he said, stunned. Then, learning that Chloe was studying English, the comedian delivered a final blow with a grin: "English! The irony."

Did you get it right? The 1% Club has become a staple of Saturday night television, regularly averaging 5.8 million viewers per episode. The show's ratings success also makes it ITV's biggest original game show in a decade.

The show has people scratching their heads every week, either over how easy the questions are and how the contestants still got them wrong, or amazed over how anyone managed to get them correct.

One such query was during a recent episode when, at the 30% part of the game, 12 players dropped out after becoming baffled by a seemingly easy mathematical problem. Guests had been shown a cartoon photo of a calculator ahead of the challenge. They were then asked: "What's the largest four-digit number you can type using just the number keys on the bottom two rows of this calculator without using the same number key twice?"

Many viewers at home found it "easy" - and took to X to share their incredulity as 12 players remained stumped. "Wt*??" quizzed one, while another, who correctly guessed the answer - 3210 - echoed: "How did 12 go out????"

The 1% Club airs Saturday nights on ITV and is available to stream on ITVX.