ITV viewers have been left stunned after twelve contestants were eliminated by the “easy” first question on Saturday night’s 1% Club.
The quiz show, hosted by Lee Mack, is known for testing reasoning and logic skills rather than general knowledge.
100 players are whittled down, question by question, as they are tasked with solving different riddles.
They aim to get to the last round where only one percent of the public could answer the final question correctly.
But this early round question – worth 30 percent – proved unexpectedly challenging for a dozen hopefuls.
Contestants were shown a standard calculator and asked: “What’s the largest four-digit number you can type using just the number keys on the bottom two rows of this calculator without using the same number key twice?”
The correct answer was 3210, which are the only four digits that appear along the bottom two rows of the calculator.
Despite its simplicity, the pressure of the studio environment led to a significant early exit.
After revealing the answer, Lee confirmed the 12 participants had been knocked out.
“It seems very obvious when you hear the explanation,” he said.
Viewers were quick to comment on social media.
“How did 12 go out???? It’s 3210,” one person posted on X.
Another wrote: “#The1PercentClub The calculator question seems suspiciously easy.”
A third added: “12 people? I’m amazed they managed to apply! #The1PercentClub.”
The 1% Club previously wiped out 10 players on a tricky cat picture question.
In the installment, Lee showed the players an image of a cat and asked: “Which is the correct picture of the cat once it has been rotated 180 degrees?”
After the players were given 30 seconds to come up with the answer, Lee revealed that a whopping 10 players had been knocked out.
He then explained: ” That if you rotate the image 180 degrees it would look like choice A.”
- The 1% Club airs on Saturday evenings on ITV and ITVX.
The 1% Club’s Most Difficult Questions

The 1% Club sees 100 contestants try and make it to the 1% question and be in with a chance to win a share of the jackpot. Here are just some of the show’s most difficult teasers.
- Players had to compare and contrast three images of butterflies then explain which of the butterflies were exactly the same on both sides. Find the image and answer here.
- Players were shown groups of six symbols then asked which were in the same order whether you read them from left to right or right to left. Find the image and answer here.
- Players were asked how many different combinations were there of displaying four digits on one hand. Find the answer here.
- Peter had recently found his old diary that he’d written in secret code but he couldn’t remember how to decipher what he wrote. Players were asked to crack the code and find out what the bold word was. WH89 I GR1W UP I WA92 21 B8 A 5L1RI72. Find the image and answer here.
- A 1% question was based on a grid of numbers going in ascending order from 1 to 49. Starting on 25, the middle square, SEEN took you to square 27. From there, NEW took you to 20. From there, which square would SEWN take you to? Find the image and the answer here.