The 1% Club’s Hokey Cokey Brain-Teaser Leaves Contestants and Viewers Scratching Their Heads
A deceptively simple The 1% Club puzzle managed to trip up contestants and leave viewers at home equally confused after Lee Mack challenged players with a family’s badly coordinated attempt at the Hokey Cokey.
The ITV game show once again put logic and quick thinking to the test, but this time it was Grandma’s inability to follow the dance correctly that caused all the trouble.
Lee Mack’s Hokey Cokey puzzle
Mack presented contestants with the following scenario:
“A family of five are doing the Hokey Cokey. Grandma always gets it wrong and puts an arm in when everyone else puts a leg in and a leg in when everyone else puts an arm in.
“When the song says ‘you put your left leg in’, how many legs in total are not ‘in’?”
Never one to let an unusual question pass without a joke, Mack quipped: “What’s wrong with this family? Is the wifi down?”
The puzzle ultimately eliminated three contestants.
Mack then revealed that the correct answer was six, explaining how the number was reached.
Four members of the family are following the instructions correctly, meaning each has one leg in and the other leg out. That accounts for four legs that are not “in.”
Grandma, however, is doing the opposite. Instead of putting her left leg in, she puts an arm in, leaving both of her legs out.
Adding Grandma’s two legs to the other four produces the answer: six.
Viewers admit the puzzle caught them out
The programme’s official X account later shared the challenge with viewers, asking how many legs were left out during the family’s chaotic Hokey Cokey.
Some fans admitted that the wording and time pressure had caused them problems.
One viewer confessed: “I forgot Granny was part of the five people.”
Another revealed they had resorted to using their pass because they could not work out the answer quickly enough.
A third viewer said they initially answered five before realising they had actually intended to choose six.
17 contestants eliminated early
The Hokey Cokey puzzle was far from the only challenge to cause problems during Saturday night’s episode.
As usual, 100 contestants began the game hoping to survive long enough to face the coveted 1% question and potentially claim a share of the jackpot.
However, the field was dramatically reduced early in the competition when 17 contestants were eliminated on the 80% question.
By the final stage, just one player remained: Steve.
Having already secured £10,000 by reaching the 1% question, Steve faced a major decision. He could protect his winnings or risk the money for an opportunity to win the full £100,000 jackpot.
He chose to gamble.
Steve risks £10,000 on the final question
For the 1% challenge, Steve was given 30 seconds to solve a letter-based puzzle:
“What two letters replace the question marks?”
The clues were:
TE times T equals MESSAGE
TO times IN equals POISON
E times ?? equals LEAVE
When the clock expired, Steve revealed that he had locked in “NE.”
After a tense pause, Mack confirmed that Steve’s answer was incorrect.
The required letters were “IT,” bringing his attempt at the £100,000 prize to a disappointing end.
The 1% Club airs Saturdays on ITV and is also available on ITVX.