Contestants are in it to win it
Winning Mastermind is undoubtedly an achievement, but does memorising facts about your specialist subject really make you one of the cleverest people in the country?
If you have ever found yourself asking that question, then The 1% Club (Saturday, ITV1, 8.50pm) may be the quiz show for you.
Or as host Lee Mack puts it: "If, like me, your lack of general knowledge frustrates you when doing quizzes, then watch The 1% Club.that way, like me, you can instead be frustrated by your lack of logic.”
The show returns for its third series tonight, but if you haven’t seen the previous run, the questions test you on your logic and common sense. It also allows you to see how you rank nationally, as 100 contestants start each show, but to be in with a chance of winning up to £100,000 they must answer a question that only one per cent of the country can get right.
The format theoretically means that viewers young and old can play along without ever using the standby quiz show excuse “it was before my time,” although Mack suggests there may be downsides to watching it as a family.
On the show’s return, he says: “Once again I am delighted to cause household arguments, as kids mock their parents for being not as bright as them. But us grown-ups can stay out as late as we want, so we get the last laugh.” That points to The 1% Club’s other big selling point – Mack, who can definitely claim to be in the top one per cent of Britain’s most quick-witted comedians. As well as being the star and cocreator of the sitcom Not Going Out, he’s also a team captain on the panel show Would I Lie to You?, which has definitely proved he can think on his feet.
And even now he’s the one asking the questions, the jokes don’t stop as he ribs the contestants.
He told The Sun: "I decided never to be too cheesy with it. I just wanted to try to have a bit of a laugh. It's just like a gig, especially to 100 people.that was most of my Edinburgh Fringe shows back in the early days to 100 people.” He adds: "It's quite an intimate laugh and the one thing is the audience really can take it, you can take the mickey out of them. It's the people who are watching who get offended, not the audience.they're always OK about it."
It seems one or two disgruntled people aside, most of the viewers do get the joke.the 1% Club was voted Best Quiz Show at the National Television Awards.