Six Contestants Failed This Tricky 1% Club Picture Puzzle — Can You Spot The Answer In Just 30 Seconds?

Six contestants were knocked out of The 1% Club after failing to solve a deceptively simple picture puzzle — and the answer was hiding in plain sight.

Hosted by Lee Mack, the hit ITV quiz show tests logic and common sense rather than general knowledge. But even questions that appear straightforward can leave players struggling when the clock starts ticking.

In one episode, a tricky 15% question challenged contestants to find a single word that could be added to three different images to create three new words.

They had just 30 seconds to work it out.

Three Pictures, One Hidden Connection

The puzzle featured three images: a block of butter, a red dragon like the one on the Welsh flag, and a selection of fruit.

The question was simple:

“What word can go after each of these images to make three new things?”

At first glance, the pictures seemed unrelated. Contestants had to look beyond the obvious objects and identify a word that could connect all three.

But the countdown made the challenge even more difficult. As the seconds disappeared, six contestants failed to find the answer and crashed out of the competition, missing their chance to continue towards the final question and a share of the jackpot.

The Answer Was Hiding In Plain Sight

When Lee Mack finally revealed the solution, the connection became clear.

The missing word was “fly.”

• Butter + fly = butterfly
• Dragon + fly = dragonfly
• Fruit + fly = fruit fly

Three familiar words, one simple connection — yet six contestants couldn’t work it out in time.

It’s exactly the kind of puzzle that makes The 1% Club so challenging: the answer doesn’t necessarily require specialist knowledge, but it does demand that players look at familiar things in an unexpected way.

Another Question Tested The Finalist

The same episode featured an even more challenging moment when contestant Steve reached the final 1% question with the chance to win the full £100,000 jackpot.

He had already secured £10,000 and was given a choice: walk away with the money or risk it in an attempt to make history.

Steve decided to gamble.

Lee then presented the question:

“What two letters replace the question marks?”

The puzzle included these equations:

• TE times T = MESSAGE
• TO times IN = POISON
• E times ?? = LEAVE

Steve had 30 seconds to find the two missing letters. When time ran out, he locked in his answer: “NE”.

After a dramatic pause, Lee revealed that Steve was wrong. The correct answer was “IT.”

The explanation was that replacing the word “times” with the letter X creates words with the same meaning as those on the right.

Steve therefore missed the chance to become the first person to win the full £100,000 jackpot.

Could You Have Solved These Puzzles?

From three seemingly unrelated pictures to a word-based final challenge, the episode demonstrated how easily a question can catch contestants out when they are under pressure.

The butterfly puzzle required just one connecting word, while the final question relied on spotting a hidden relationship between letters and words.

Both challenges looked manageable at first — but with only 30 seconds to think, even a small detail could make all the difference.

Six Contestants Missed The Picture Puzzle. Steve Fell At The Final Hurdle. Would You Have Spotted The Answers Before The Clock Ran Out?