The 1% Club viewers celebrate getting questions right, only to spot a hilarious catch

Fans of The 1% Club were feeling particularly clever while watching a repeat episode of Lee Mack’s ITV quiz show. Some viewers were answering questions within seconds and joking that they might belong among the smartest people in the country.

There was just one problem: several of them may have already seen the questions before.

The Saturday night rerun prompted plenty of confident reactions on social media, with viewers boasting about how quickly they were able to work out the answers. But one person soon pointed out a rather important detail that took some of the shine off their achievement.

Viewers were feeling very clever

The 1% Club puts 100 contestants through a series of increasingly difficult questions, with the ultimate prize reaching £100,000.

Unlike traditional general-knowledge quizzes, the show focuses on logic and common sense. The questions are designed around how a representative sample of people across Britain answered them, with the difficulty increasing as the percentage of people who can answer correctly falls. ITV says the format begins with questions that 90% of the country answered correctly before eventually reaching the elusive 1% question.

That makes getting through the later questions a source of considerable pride for both contestants and people playing along at home.

During the repeat shown on 11 November, several viewers were particularly pleased with themselves.

One fan posted: “I need to get on this 1% Club, no good me sitting here answering the questions in 5 seconds, need to be there winning the money.”

Another wrote: “The 1% Club questions are so annoying – I didn’t know the answer to the 60% question but immediately knew the answer to the 1% question.”

A third viewer claimed: “Mrs says I’m abnormal. I get The 1% Club question in approximately 1-3 seconds.”

Someone else was equally pleased after making it through to one of the tougher stages, writing: “Got down to the 10% question on 1% Club and I’m being quietly smug about it!”

For a few minutes, it seemed as though social media had produced a surprisingly large collection of people who could potentially outsmart 99% of the country.

Then came the reality check.

One viewer spotted the obvious problem

While everyone else was congratulating themselves, one viewer realised there was a fairly straightforward explanation for why the questions seemed so easy.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, they wrote: “Sat here, thinking ‘I’m quite good at this 1% Club show’…but I’ve realised this is a re-run and I’ve probably seen all the questions on TikTok.”

That observation rather undermined the idea that everyone watching had suddenly discovered they possessed extraordinary powers of logic.

If you have encountered the questions before, getting the answers right in a matter of seconds is obviously a little less impressive. The repeat may have given some viewers a considerable advantage without them realising it.

The joke also captures one of the pleasures of The 1% Club. Because the questions rely on patterns, logic and common sense rather than simply testing general knowledge, viewers at home can play along with the contestants and see how far they can get.

The format has contestants start with £1,000, while an incorrect answer eliminates them and adds their money to the prize pot.

So while those watching from the sofa do not have the pressure of potentially losing their money, they can still get surprisingly competitive when a question appears on screen.

The 1% Club was already set for a bigger return

There was also good news for fans of the programme around the time of the repeat.

ITV had confirmed that The 1% Club would return for a third series, with the order doubling from the previous eight one-hour episodes to 16 episodes.

The broadcaster also announced plans for two Christmas specials, one for 2023 and another for 2024.

Lee Mack was clearly pleased to be returning to the show and joked about the effect the quiz has on families.

“Once again I am delighted to cause household arguments, as kids mock their parents for being not as bright as them. But us grown-ups can stay out as late as we want, so we get the last laugh,” he said.

ITV commissioning editor Satmohan Panesar also highlighted the challenge of establishing a new game show, saying it was “no easy task” to find an audience in such a competitive market.

He said The 1% Club had become a “big hit with viewers” and praised its combination of an unusual format and Lee Mack’s interaction with the studio audience.

“We’re excited to be able to announce a third new series as well as two Christmas specials which we’re sure will be a massively entertaining addition to festive telly for all the family,” Panesar added.

Fans still think they belong in the 1% Club

The appeal of the show has always been the chance for viewers to test themselves alongside the contestants. A question that looks simple can suddenly become much harder when there is a countdown running, while an apparently complicated question can sometimes have a surprisingly straightforward solution.

That helps explain why viewers were so quick to boast about their performances during the repeat.

Some social media users even suggested they should be among the 100 contestants themselves.

But for those who were feeling particularly pleased with their lightning-fast answers on this particular evening, there was one detail worth remembering: if the episode had already crossed their screens before, they may have had a head start.

The third series was commissioned as a 16-part run, although at the time of the original announcement ITV had not given it a release date. Series one and two were available to stream on ITVX.