The 1% Club final question viewers thought was closer to a ‘0.1%’ challenge

A final question on ITV’s The 1% Club left viewers struggling to find the answer, and even the two contestants who reached the end of the episode decided it was too risky to attempt.

Hosted by Lee Mack, the quiz show puts 100 contestants through a series of increasingly difficult questions. Every incorrect answer eliminates a player and adds £1,000 to the prize fund.

Those who survive to the final stage face a question designed to be solvable by only 1 percent of people. At that point, contestants can either risk their share of the money by attempting the final question or walk away with their portion of the £10,000 prize.

The format is deliberately designed to make contestants look at familiar problems differently. Many questions contain a hidden pattern or a small detail that changes the way the problem needs to be approached.

That was certainly the case with one particularly difficult maths question.

Could you solve it in 30 seconds?

The challenge presented to the finalists, Maisie and Alex, was:

“Given that: 0 + 100 = 100, 1 + 99 = 100, 2 + 98 = 100, what is the sum of all the whole numbers between zero and 100?”

Contestants had only 30 seconds to work it out.

The question also proved troublesome for viewers watching at home. Some admitted they were completely lost, while one viewer described it as “possibly the hardest 1% question” they had encountered and said they would even consider it a “0.1% question.”

Numbers appeared to be a particular stumbling block for some fans, with viewers admitting that they did not even attempt the problem because they found it so confusing.

The pressure was even greater for Maisie and Alex, who had made it all the way to the final question with money at stake.

Rather than risk losing everything at the final hurdle, both contestants chose to take home £5,000 each.

The finalists were remarkably close

When Lee Mack asked whether they had an answer anyway, the pair gave 5,000.

It was an understandable answer, and they had spotted most of the trick. They had simply missed one number.

The examples in the question reveal that the numbers can be grouped into pairs that total 100:

• 0 + 100 = 100
• 1 + 99 = 100
• 2 + 98 = 100
• 3 + 97 = 100

The pattern continues until there are 50 pairs, with every pair adding up to 100.

Fifty pairs multiplied by 100 gives 5,000.

But there is a catch.

The sequence runs from 0 to 100, which contains 101 whole numbers, not 100. That leaves the number 50 sitting in the middle without a partner.

Once that is included, the calculation becomes:

50 × 100 = 5,000

5,000 + 50 = 5,050

So the correct answer is 5,050.

The detail that makes all the difference

The question is designed to steer contestants toward the 50 pairs. That makes 5,000 seem like the obvious solution once the pattern has been spotted.

The real test is noticing that the range contains an odd number of values. There are 101 numbers from zero through 100, meaning that after forming 50 pairs, 50 is left over.

That single overlooked number changes the answer from 5,000 to 5,050.

It also explains why the two finalists came so close despite deciding not to risk their money. They had identified the central mathematical pattern but missed the unpaired number in the middle.

For viewers who struggled with the question, there was plenty of sympathy online. The combination of a 30-second time limit, the deliberately worded examples and the need to spot the final numerical detail made this a particularly tough 1% Club challenge.

And if you were tempted to answer 5,000, you were only 50 away from the correct answer.