The 1% Club viewers stunned as ‘easy’ Christmas question eliminates 28 contestants

A seemingly simple spot-the-difference question caused chaos on The 1% Club Christmas special, with 28 contestants eliminated just moments into the episode.

The festive edition of Lee Mack’s ITV quiz show featured 100 contestants dressed in Christmas jumpers and ready to test their logic and reasoning skills. But for a sizeable group, an early question proved much harder than expected.

Hosted by actor and comedian Lee Mack, The 1% Club takes a different approach to the traditional quiz format. Contestants are not tested on general knowledge or obscure facts. Instead, they must rely on logic, observation and their ability to work things out.

Those who manage to survive until the end have the chance to take home a share of the £100,000 prize pot.

28 contestants caught out by the second question

The show’s questions are ranked according to the percentage of people in a test audience who answered them correctly. The lower the percentage, the more difficult the question is considered to be.

That means the questions asked at the beginning of an episode are generally intended to be easier, while the difficulty gradually increases as contestants progress.

That theory did not quite hold up during the Christmas special.

The second question presented contestants with two almost identical images of an animated Christmas scene. Their task was simply to identify the difference between them.

It appeared to be a relatively straightforward test of observation, but 28 of the 100 contestants failed to find the answer and were eliminated from the competition.

Mack was visibly surprised when he discovered just how many people had been caught out.

“Wow,” he responded after learning that 28 contestants had gone out so early in the game.

He then revealed the crucial difference between the two pictures: only the image on the left showed Santa Claus with a pair of legs.

For those watching at home, the answer may have seemed particularly obvious, which made the number of eliminations all the more surprising.

Viewers couldn’t believe so many people missed it

The unexpected mass elimination quickly caught the attention of viewers, with several taking to social media to share their disbelief.

One viewer wrote: “What on earth were those 28 people looking at?”

Another reacted to the result by posting: “28 people getting the second question wrong!” alongside a GIF bearing the message “Go feel shame”.

A third viewer simply summed up their reaction with: “28 people. Wow.”

While 28 contestants may have been left wondering how they missed such a small detail, they were not the only participants to struggle during the opening stages of the show.

One contestant failed the very first question

Before the spot-the-difference challenge even appeared, one contestant had already been eliminated by the opening question.

The first challenge involved counting the number of elf hats and reindeer antlers shown on the screen.

Mack revealed that a contestant named Colin had failed to get the correct answer. When the host asked him to explain the logic behind his response, Colin admitted that he was at a loss for words.

“I don’t know what to say, I am embarrassed,” he said.

He then added: “I can’t believe I’ve done this on telly.”

With contestants falling at the first two hurdles, the Christmas special got off to a particularly unforgiving start, despite the questions appearing simple on paper.