The 1% Club produced one of its most remarkable finishes when a record 12 contestants reached the 1% question — only for the final 30-second puzzle to crush the hopes of nine of them.

With £93,000 at stake, every finalist was offered the opportunity to walk away with a share of £10,000. But in an extraordinary show of confidence, all 12 rejected the safer option and decided to gamble on the final question.

When the clock stopped, only David, Ellis and Govind had found the answer.

Their reward was enormous: £31,000 each.

A record 12 contestants reach the final

The April 12, 2025 episode began in familiar fashion, with contestants attempting to survive increasingly difficult puzzles designed around logic and common sense rather than traditional general knowledge.

The format normally starts with 100 contestants, who work their way through questions ranging from those answered correctly by 90% of the surveyed public down to the decisive 1% challenge.

This time, however, an unusually large group survived all the way to the end.

As the 12 finalists prepared for the last round, host Lee Mack highlighted the significance of what they had achieved.

“Because there are 12 of you in the final, that’s actually a record for The 1% Club,” he told them, before describing the group as the show’s “cleverest contestants.”

But reaching the final presented them with a major decision.

They could stop and divide £10,000 between themselves — guaranteeing that they would leave with something — or risk that safety net and attempt the 1% question for the £93,000 jackpot.

All 12 chose to play.

£93,000 comes down to one anagram

The final puzzle appeared on screen:

“If you removed all the underlined letters from the sentence below, what word can be spelt if you rearrange all the remaining letters?”

The sentence contestants were given was:

ONE SELLING FRESH SALMON

They had just 30 seconds to remove the designated letters and rearrange those left behind.

There was another clue hiding in plain sight: the meaning of the sentence itself pointed towards the answer.

But with £93,000 riding on the result and the clock rapidly counting down, spotting the connection proved extremely difficult.

Only three finalists managed it.

The answer was FISHMONGER.

Lee confirmed that David, Ellis and Govind had all cracked the puzzle, declaring them members of The 1% Club.

Three winners split the jackpot

With three successful answers, the £93,000 prize fund was divided equally.

That meant David, Ellis and Govind each walked away with £31,000, while the other nine finalists left without a share of the jackpot after choosing to gamble rather than take the guaranteed money.

Reaction from viewers playing along at home showed just how deceptive the puzzle had been.

Some admitted they became so focused on rearranging the remaining letters that they completely overlooked the sentence itself, despite it containing a major clue. Others came up with combinations that were tantalisingly close but couldn’t turn the letters into “fishmonger” before time expired.

Another word puzzle had already caused trouble

It wasn’t the only word-based challenge to trip up contestants.

Another puzzle asked players to continue the pattern in the sentence:

“Silly dummies running loose…”

They were given three possible answers — wildly, happily or frequently — and another 30 seconds to identify the pattern.

Four contestants were eliminated after failing to find the correct continuation.

The answer was Happily.

Yet nothing compared with the tension of the final round, where a record-breaking group of 12 suddenly became just three winners.

The episode perfectly demonstrated what makes The 1% Club so unpredictable: getting further than almost everyone else doesn’t guarantee the money. Sometimes the difference between leaving empty-handed and collecting £31,000 is simply spotting one hidden connection before 30 seconds disappear.

The 1% Club airs on ITV1 and is available on ITVX.