TV & Film
Viewers left baffled at ITV’s The 1% Club’s final question as contestants ‘give up’
Did you know the answer?
The latest episode of ITV’s The 1% Club issued a final question which left viewers baffled as the last two contestants ‘gave up’.
The hit entertainment quiz show which is presented by comedian Lee Mack is known for its notoriously difficult last question – which it claims only 1% of the nation can answer correctly.
After smashing through a series of questions, the last two standing contestants, Maisie and Alex, made it through to the final 1% question, where they had the chance of walking away with the £100,000 prize money or risked losing it all.
But when the question was delivered, the pair were left completely baffled as 30 seconds on the clock ticked away.
Fans watching at home said they didn’t even bother trying to answer the difficult question and were left completely stumped.
Both Maisie and Alex made the decision not to take a gamble and answer the question for a chance to walk away with the £100,000 prize money as they chose to play it safe and take their £5,000 each instead.
The question 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?”
Maisie and Alex both guessed 5,000 – which was the wrong answer.
Contestants only have 30 seconds to lock in their answer but even allowing themselves a little longer, viewers still struggled to work it out.
The correct answer was actually 5050.
Lee explained why as he revealed the answer, saying: “There are 50 pairs that total 100 (0 and 100, one and 99, two and 98, etc.). That makes 5000, but there is also the number 50 in the middle, that is not in a pair but also needs to be counted, giving a total of 5050.”
Fans of the show who were watching at home took to X to express how difficult they found the question. One viewer said: “I still have the last question on pause, trying to work out the question… never-mind the answer.”
Another wrote: “Hard questions this week. Last week, I got all the way. First time ever this week I was out at the beginning.”
While a third added: “I didn’t even try with that one. Maths is hard enough on a calculator for me, never mind doing it in my head in 30 seconds.”