The 1% Club players face fiendish numbers-and-words question: could you get the answer?

The 1% Club contestants were left scratching their heads when Lee Mack presented a deceptively simple question that mixed numbers with words.

The challenge appeared during the ITV quiz show on a 50% question, with players given just 30 seconds to work out which word contained a number that did not correspond with the total number of letters in the word.

The three options were WEIGHTED, HORNINESS and EXTENSION.

Lee read the question to the contestants before the countdown began:

“Which of the following words includes a number in it which is NOT the same as the number of letters in the word?”

With the clock running, the 100 players had to look closely at each option and work out which hidden number failed to match the word’s length.

The answer was EXTENSION

The correct choice was EXTENSION.

Hidden within the word is TEN, but EXTENSION contains nine letters, meaning the number does not match the length of the word.

The other two options followed the rule.

WEIGHTED contains the number EIGHT and has eight letters.

HORNINESS contains the number NINE and has nine letters.

That left EXTENSION as the only word where the number and letter count did not correspond.

As the time ran out, two contestants were eliminated while many others chose to use their pass rather than risk getting the question wrong.

When Lee revealed the answer, he also acknowledged the rather awkward wording of one of the options, joking:

“I can’t believe they got me to say horniness on TV.”

The puzzle was one of several word-based challenges that have tested contestants on The 1% Club, a show built around logic, observation and lateral thinking rather than conventional general-knowledge questions.

A record 46 players previously used their pass

The latest challenge came shortly after another particularly difficult word puzzle left contestants struggling.

In that question, players were asked:

“Which of these words can have two of its letters swapped over and still result in a valid word?”

Their three choices were Conversation, Dialogue and Chat.

The answer was Conversation. Swapping the V and S produces Conservation, which is also a valid word.

That puzzle produced an unusual moment on the show. Forty-six of the 100 contestants used their pass, while another seven players answered incorrectly. That meant more than half of the contestants failed to give the correct answer.

Lee highlighted the unusual number of passes, telling the contestants:

“Now, you’ve just broken a record you lot, because, between you, you have just used 46 passes!”

The two questions demonstrated just how easily seemingly familiar words can become difficult when contestants have only 30 seconds to find the hidden pattern.

And with WEIGHTED, HORNINESS and EXTENSION in front of you, the crucial detail was simply counting the letters.

The answer: EXTENSION.