The 1% Club picture puzzle leaves contestants stumped: Could you solve it in 30 seconds?

A deceptively simple picture puzzle left several contestants on The 1% Club scrambling for an answer, with four players ultimately knocked out of the game.

Hosted by Lee Mack, 56, the ITV quiz show returned with another round of questions designed to test logic, reasoning and common sense rather than traditional general knowledge.

The challenge looked straightforward. Contestants were shown three images and given just 30 seconds to work out the three-word phrase connecting them.

Would you have spotted the answer in time?

Three pictures, one familiar phrase

The images appeared to show a rope, a rocket and a set of test tubes.

Lee asked the contestants: What common three-word phrase is represented here?

As the clock started, the players tried to make the connection between the three seemingly unrelated pictures.

Lee added one of his trademark jokes, telling them the images looked like “a selection of ways my wife has thought to get rid of me.”

But the puzzle proved harder than expected.

When the time was up, Lee revealed that four contestants had been eliminated by the question, while others had chosen to use their passes rather than risk being knocked out.

The answer was hiding in plain sight

The three images represented the phrase:

Not Rocket Science

The rocket was the most obvious clue, while the other two images helped complete the familiar expression.

It was the kind of puzzle that could seem obvious once the answer had been revealed, but several players were unable to make the connection within the 30-second limit.

The question appeared during the 2025 series of The 1% Club, a quiz format in which contestants gradually disappear as the questions become more challenging.

Rather than asking players to recall obscure facts, the programme focuses on patterns, logic, reasoning and everyday common sense. The starting field of 100 contestants is reduced question by question, with the ultimate goal of reaching the final round, which is designed around a question only one percent of the public would be expected to answer correctly.

Daisy chose to use her pass

Among those caught out by the picture puzzle was contestant Daisy.

She had not managed to work out the answer before the clock ran down, so she used her pass to remain in the competition.

Speaking to Lee afterwards, Daisy admitted that she actually saw the answer just after the allotted time had ended, but could not put the clues together quickly enough.

Her appearance then took an unexpected turn when Lee asked whether she was competitive.

Daisy explained that, shortly after leaving university, her friends had decided to sign up for a climb of Kilimanjaro.

She decided to join them.

Daisy’s Kilimanjaro story

Daisy told Lee that she had actually made it all the way to the top of Kilimanjaro, despite suffering badly from altitude sickness.

The experience became particularly disorientating.

She said that at one point she did not know where she was and could not even remember her own name.

Lee was intrigued by the story and asked whether she had simply wandered to the summit in a confused state.

Daisy agreed that, in effect, that was what had happened. She recalled even believing at one stage that her guide was trying to kill her.

Despite the ordeal, she reached the summit.

Lee congratulated her and pointed out that, thanks to using her pass on the picture question, she was still in the game.

He then moved on to the next challenge.

A question that looked easier than it was

The Not Rocket Science puzzle was a good example of the format that has made The 1% Club different from conventional quiz shows.

There was no specialist knowledge required. The answer was a common phrase familiar to most people.

The difficulty came from recognising what the three images were trying to communicate before the 30-second countdown expired.

For four contestants, that proved impossible. Daisy managed to stay in the competition by using her pass, even though she realised the answer moments too late.

And once Lee revealed the solution, the puzzle suddenly seemed much easier.

So, could you have connected the rope, rocket and test tubes to “Not Rocket Science” before the 30 seconds were up?