23 CONTESTANTS ELIMINATED BY A 70% QUESTION! 😱 Lee Mack’s ‘EASY’ RIDDLE LEFT PLAYERS STUMPED—AND THE WORDING WAS THE REAL TRAP! Two men. Two different writing hands. One deceptively tricky sentence. On The 1% Club, this seemingly straightforward riddle proved disastrous, with 23 contestants knocked out despite the question being expected to challenge just a fraction of the public.

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The 1% Club: ‘Easy’ Common-Sense Question Eliminates 23 Contestants in Shock Twist

A seemingly straightforward question about two people writing with different hands sent 23 contestants packing on The 1% Club, leaving viewers stunned that so many players had fallen at the same hurdle.

The episode, hosted by Lee Mack, aired on ITV on Saturday night, May 24, 2025. Known for testing logic and reasoning rather than general knowledge, the quiz show challenges 100 contestants to solve increasingly difficult puzzles, with just 30 seconds to answer each question.

As the competition progressed, the remaining players faced a question at the 70% level. Despite its simple wording, the challenge proved surprisingly costly for those who overthought it.

The Question That Caught 23 Players Out

Screenshot of a man in a suit hosting a game show.

Lee presented the contestants with the following riddle:

“John writes with his right hand and the last word he’d write if he was writing this sentence would be be. If Keith writes with his left hand, what would be the last word he would write in the sentence above?”

Players had to consider whether Keith’s left-handedness would change the final word of the sentence.

The correct answer was “be”. The question was not asking them to reverse the writing direction or rearrange the words. Regardless of which hand Keith used, the sentence itself remained unchanged.

However, 23 contestants failed to reach that conclusion and were eliminated from the competition.

The mass exit prompted an immediate reaction from viewers, many of whom believed the answer should have been obvious. What appeared to be a basic test of common sense instead became one of the episode’s most talked-about moments.

Screenshot of the "23 Out" game show set.

Viewers Cannot Believe So Many Players Got It Wrong

Screenshot of a game show question: "John writes with his right hand and the last word he'd write if he was writing this sentence would be 'be'. If Keith writes with his left hand, what would be the last word he would write in the sentence above?"

Social media users were quick to express their disbelief after watching nearly a quarter of the contestants fall at the same question.

One viewer shared a GIF of Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, sarcastically echoing the character’s famous question: “What, like it’s hard?”

Another asked: “How did 23 get this wrong?”, accompanying the comment with a monkey-covering-its-eyes emoji.

A third reacted with disbelief, writing: “TWENTY THREE out on THAT?!?!”

Other viewers suggested that contestants had made the question more complicated than it really was.

One fan commented: “How t* have 23 gone out?? Being left handed doesnt mean you write words in the wrong order.”

Another added: “Too many people thinking too hard on that one #The1PercentClub.”

The reactions reflected a familiar challenge on the show: questions that appear easy can become surprisingly difficult when contestants are racing against the clock and second-guessing their instincts.

The 1% Club’s Toughest Puzzles

Screenshot of a quiz question: If John writes with his right hand, the last word he'd write is "be." If Keith writes with his left hand, what's the last word he'd write? The answer is "be."

Although the writing-hand riddle caught out 23 players, it was far from the only question on The 1% Club to leave contestants scratching their heads.

Previous challenges have required players to compare butterfly images to identify matching patterns, determine which groups of symbols look the same when read forwards and backwards, and calculate how many different combinations of four digits can be displayed on one hand.

Other puzzles have involved deciphering a secret diary code, counting the eyes hidden in an image made up of letters and symbols, and navigating a numbered grid using a sequence of unusual word clues.

Even a food-related question involving the letters “ABDER”, rearranged into alphabetical order, has tested contestants who struggled to spot the connection.

The variety of challenges illustrates the show’s central premise: success depends less on memorised facts than on recognising patterns, interpreting wording carefully and resisting the urge to overcomplicate a problem.

A Bigger Jackpot After the Mass Elimination

Screenshot of a game show revealing a £28,000 prize.

The elimination of 23 contestants also had a significant effect on the prize money.

The jackpot, which had stood at £5,000, increased to £28,000 as the large number of players were knocked out. With nearly a quarter of the original 100 contestants eliminated in one round, the prize pot rose considerably.

For those who survived, the question served as a reminder that even a seemingly simple puzzle could make a substantial difference to the competition.

The 1% Club continues on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.