Could you solve this fiendish 1% Club sequence? Only one of three finalists got it right

A sequence of just eight letters was enough to separate the winner from the runners-up on ITV’s The 1% Club.

With £96,000 on the line, three finalists, Paul, Cameron and Tamzin, were given 30 seconds to work out the next two letters. The answer looked deceptively simple once it was revealed, but only one contestant spotted the pattern in time.

Three finalists, one £96,000 question

The episode had come down to its final three players, with everyone else eliminated as the contestants battled for the growing prize pot.

Paul, Cameron and Tamzin had each chosen to continue to the end, putting themselves in contention for the £96,000 jackpot.

That left them facing the kind of question the show is known for: a puzzle based on logic rather than specialist knowledge. ITV describes The 1% Club as a quiz in which contestants rely on logic and common sense rather than traditional general knowledge.

Host Lee Mack then presented the finalists with a deceptively short sequence and asked:

What are the next two letters in this sequence?

On screen, the letters read:

T – N – E – C – R – E – P – E – _ – _

The three contestants had just 30 seconds to find the missing pair.

Three different answers

As the clock ran out, the finalists locked in their answers.

Cameron chose N-T.

Tamzin went with N-O.

Paul selected T-E.

With three completely different answers on the board, there was still a chance for any one of them to take the entire prize.

The solution, however, depended on seeing the letters in a completely different way.

Lee revealed that the correct answer was:

N-O

That meant Tamzin had found the pattern.

The trick was hidden in plain sight

The apparently random sequence was actually the phrase ONE PERCENT written backwards.

Written normally, ONE PERCENT becomes:

O N E P E R C E N T

Reverse it and it reads:

T N E C R E P E N O

The sequence shown to the contestants stopped just before the final two letters, leaving N-O to complete it.

Once the explanation was given, the answer suddenly made sense. But under the pressure of a 30-second countdown, Paul and Cameron failed to spot the reversal.

Tamzin did.

Tamzin takes the entire jackpot

Tamzin’s correct answer secured the full £96,000 prize pot, leaving her as the only finalist to solve the final puzzle.

She appeared astonished when the result was announced in front of the studio audience.

Afterwards, Tamzin revealed that she had worked out the answer roughly 10 seconds into the 30-second time limit.

Her quick solution meant she not only took home the five-figure jackpot, but also earned the distinction that comes with successfully answering the show’s final question: becoming a member of the 1% Club.

The sequence has since become a neat example of how the programme’s final questions can rely on noticing a simple detail rather than recalling obscure facts.

Another tricky question had already caught out 28 players

The sequence puzzle came after another difficult moment during the show’s festive special.

Earlier in the programme, contestants faced an 80% question involving two pictures. They were asked:

What is the only item which does NOT appear in both images?

The pictures showed Santa, a snowman and a reindeer sitting around a dinner table, with a log fire behind them and snow visible outside the window.

Contestants were given 30 seconds to examine the images and lock in their answers.

When the result was revealed, 28 players had been eliminated.

Lee Mack appeared surprised by the number of incorrect answers before the solution was shown.

The missing detail was Santa’s legs.

They appeared in one image but were absent from the other.

One contestant admitted afterwards that he had not been able to see anything wrong with the picture, illustrating how easily a small visual detail can be overlooked when the clock is running.

The mistake had a significant effect on the game, with the elimination of those 28 players causing the prize pot to rise to £29,000 at an early stage.

Would you have spotted the pattern?

The final sequence is a classic 1% Club puzzle because the letters initially appear to have no obvious connection.

But the clue is contained entirely within the sequence itself.

T N E C R E P E _ _

Complete it with N O, then read the letters from right to left:

O N E P E R C E N T

That was enough for Tamzin to solve the final challenge and turn 30 seconds of head-scratching into a £96,000 win.