The 1% Club viewers question answer after spotting another apparent error

Viewers of The 1% Club were left divided after a question on the ITV quiz show appeared to have a different answer from the one given on screen.

The debate centred on a question involving fingers and toes, with some viewers arguing that the wording made 17 the correct answer rather than the 25 announced on the programme.

Hosted by comedian Lee Mack, The 1% Club challenges 100 contestants with increasingly difficult questions designed to test logic, observation and attention to detail. Contestants can compete for up to £100,000, while viewers at home are encouraged to play along.

The show starts with relatively straightforward questions, but the difficulty increases as contestants are eliminated, eventually leaving only those capable of solving the most challenging puzzles.

Viewers spotted a problem with the wording

The question that caused the controversy asked:

“If you had eight fingers on your left hand, six fingers on your right hand, the same number of toes on your right foot as your left hand and three toes on your left foot, how many fingers and toes would you have on total?”

The programme gave 25 as the answer.

That would work if the phrase about the right foot meant that it had the same number of digits as the fingers on the left hand. In that case, the calculation would be 8 fingers + 6 fingers + 8 toes + 3 toes = 25.

But viewers pointed out that this is not what the question actually says.

The wording refers to the number of toes on the right foot being the same as the number of toes on the left hand. Since the left hand has fingers rather than toes, some viewers argued that the right foot should therefore have zero toes.

That would make the total:

8 + 6 + 0 + 3 = 17.

One viewer highlighted the issue on social media, arguing that the wording clearly pointed to 17. Another agreed, saying the question should have specified “the same number of toes on your right foot as the number of fingers on your left hand” if 25 was intended.

The criticism struck a particular nerve because The 1% Club is known for questions where a small detail in the wording can completely change the answer.

“I thought it was 17”

The discussion quickly divided viewers who had answered 25 from those who had interpreted the wording literally.

One viewer admitted they had initially chosen 25, only to reconsider after reading the question again and deciding that 17 made more sense.

Another said they were frustrated at having got the question “correct” with 25, arguing that 17 should have been accepted based on the wording.

That appeared to be exactly what happened in the studio.

According to a discussion on the Digital Spy forum for The 1% Club, an independent adjudicator was brought in after a contestant gave 17 as their answer. The adjudicator accepted it, meaning the contestant’s interpretation was allowed.

The forum discussion also showed that several viewers watching the episode had immediately noticed the ambiguity, while others had interpreted the question as intending the number of fingers on the left hand.

A question with two possible interpretations

The dispute is particularly fitting for The 1% Club, where contestants are repeatedly warned to pay close attention to exactly how questions are phrased.

The issue here was not the arithmetic. It was the wording.

If “the same number of toes on your right foot as your left hand” is taken literally, 17 is the logical answer because there are no toes on a hand.

If the intended meaning was that the right foot should have the same number of toes as the fingers on the left hand, the answer becomes 25.

The question had already caused confusion among viewers before the independent adjudicator’s decision was discussed online.

The Digital Spy forum post read: “The independent adjudicator had to be called in on this one cos someone gave an answer about this. Their answer was accepted.”

The incident came just days after another 1% Club question prompted complaints from viewers.

In the episode broadcast on 27 April 2024, viewers questioned a different question involving birthday balloons, arguing that 29 could also be an answer because one of the numbered balloons could potentially be turned upside down to make a six into a nine.

So for fans watching at home, the finger-and-toe puzzle became another example of how a seemingly simple question on The 1% Club can turn into a debate over the exact meaning of a few words.