The 1% Club Question That Forced 18 Contestants to Use Their Passes

A deceptively simple-looking puzzle on The 1% Club caused serious trouble for contestants, with 18 players deciding they could not risk an answer and using their passes just to remain in the competition.

The ITV quiz, hosted by Lee Mack, is designed to test logic, reasoning and common sense rather than traditional general knowledge. Starting with 100 contestants, each round becomes progressively more challenging until the remaining players face the final 1% question.

But on this occasion, it was a much earlier 50% question that created the drama.

The Three-Word Puzzle That Caught Contestants Out

When the competition reached the 50% round, Mack presented the players with a visual puzzle and asked:

“What three-word scientific phrase is represented below?”

On screen were two angry-looking male cartoon figures alongside the silhouette of an aeroplane.

Contestants had only a limited amount of time to interpret the images and identify the phrase they represented.

The answer was “fight or flight.”

Despite the question being categorized at the 50% level, it proved surprisingly troublesome inside the studio.

Two contestants answered incorrectly and were eliminated. Another 18 chose to use their single available passes rather than risk leaving the competition.

With so many passes used, the jackpot climbed to £40,000.

Another Visual Puzzle Caused Problems in the Same Episode

The “fight or flight” challenge was not the only question to frustrate contestants.

Earlier, 94 players had reached the 60% round, when the jackpot stood at just £6,000. This time, they were shown three images of butterflies and asked to examine them carefully.

Mack then posed the question:

“Which of these Butterflies is exactly the same on both sides?”

The challenge required players to determine which butterfly was perfectly symmetrical.

The correct choice was the second, blue butterfly.

The differences in the other two images were deliberately subtle. The first, orange butterfly was missing an antenna on one side, meaning it was not symmetrical. The third, green butterfly contained small differences in the spotted pattern across its wings.

Those details were enough to catch out a significant number of contestants.

Fourteen players failed to identify the correct butterfly.

Watching so many contestants struggle prompted Mack to joke: “You’re ruining the format!”

Why The 1% Club Questions Can Be So Deceptive

Unlike many traditional quiz shows, The 1% Club does not primarily reward contestants for knowing obscure facts.

Instead, the questions are built around observation, logic, reasoning and the ability to notice patterns under time pressure.

The show begins with 100 contestants, who are gradually eliminated as the questions become more difficult. Each player also receives one pass that can be used to avoid answering a question and stay in the game.

That safety net proved especially valuable during the “fight or flight” puzzle.

Although the answer was a familiar scientific phrase, 18 contestants were uncertain enough to sacrifice their passes, while two others saw their games end after giving incorrect answers.

It was another reminder that on The 1% Club, even a question supposedly answerable by half the public can become considerably harder when the clock is ticking and a place in the next round is at stake.