The 1% Club’s Hokey Cokey Puzzle Stumps Contestants and Leaves Viewers Second-Guessing the Answer
A seemingly straightforward question about the Hokey Cokey left contestants scrambling for the right answer on The 1% Club, with several players admitting they had been caught out by one crucial detail.
Hosted by Lee Mack, the ITV quiz show once again challenged contestants to think carefully under pressure. This time, however, it was a chaotic family dance routine — and one particularly confused grandmother — that proved surprisingly difficult to work out.
Lee Mack’s Hokey Cokey question
The challenge centred on a family of five taking part in the Hokey Cokey.
Mack explained that Grandma always gets the instructions wrong. Whenever everyone else puts a leg in, she puts an arm in instead, and whenever everyone else puts an arm in, she puts a leg in.
Contestants were then asked:
“When the song says ‘you put your left leg in’, how many legs in total are not ‘in’?”
As usual, Mack added his own humour to the question, joking: “What’s wrong with this family? Is the wifi down?”
Despite appearing simple, the question was enough to eliminate three contestants.
The correct answer was six.
The explanation comes down to how the five family members are following — or not following — the instructions.
Four members correctly put one leg in, leaving their other leg out. That means there are already four legs that are not in.
Grandma is different. Instead of putting her left leg in, she puts an arm in. As a result, both of her legs remain out.
Four legs from the other family members plus Grandma’s two gives a total of six legs not “in.”
Viewers admit they were fooled too
The puzzle also caused confusion among viewers watching at home.
After the episode, The 1% Club’s official X account shared the question and challenged fans to work out how many legs were left out during the family’s disastrous Hokey Cokey.
Several viewers admitted that the question had caught them off guard.
One said they had forgotten that Grandma was included among the five family members. Another admitted they had used their pass because they could not work out the answer quickly enough.
A third viewer revealed they had initially gone with five before realising that six was the answer they had meant to choose.
The puzzle was a reminder of the show’s familiar trick: the calculation itself is often less difficult than making sure every detail in the question has been accounted for.
17 contestants were eliminated on the 80% question
The Hokey Cokey challenge was not the only stumbling block during Saturday night’s episode.
The episode began with the usual 100 contestants, all hoping to survive through the increasingly difficult questions and eventually reach the coveted 1% question.
The numbers quickly dropped, with 17 contestants eliminated on the 80% question.
By the time the game reached its final stage, only one contestant remained: Steve.
He had already secured £10,000 by making it to the 1% question, but he then faced a choice that could dramatically change his winnings.
Steve could protect the money he had already earned or put it at risk for the chance to win the show’s full £100,000 jackpot.
He decided to gamble.
Steve risks £10,000 for the £100,000 jackpot
Steve was given 30 seconds to solve the final letter puzzle.
The question asked:
What two letters replace the question marks?
The clues were:
TE times T = MESSAGE
TO times IN = POISON
E times ?? = LEAVE
With the clock running down, Steve eventually locked in “NE.”
The moment was followed by a tense wait before Mack revealed the result.
Unfortunately for Steve, his answer was incorrect.
The correct letters were “IT,” meaning he missed out on the £100,000 jackpot after risking the £10,000 he had already secured.
The 1% Club airs Saturdays on ITV and is also available to stream on ITVX.