REVIEW: It’s a kind of cross between Family Feud, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and 1 vs.100.
Perfect early Saturday evening entertainment that the whole whānau can engage in. Britain’s latest hit quiz show that’s thankfully arrived on our screens only five months (rather than the usual five years) after its UK bow.
Hosted by Would I Lie to You team captain Lee Mack, The 1% Club (which will screen on Saturday nights at 7.30pm on Eden from September 3) is in many ways the much-loved The Chase’s polar opposite.
Each episode features an audience of 100 contestants essentially competing against each other, rather than a mega memory. Oh, and these aren’t your ordinary trivia questions. No, as Mack delightfully informs us at the beginning: “The 1% Club is the ultimate leveller. It doesn’t matter if you’re not usually good at quizzes, because the questions have nothing to do with remembering facts. They’re all about logic and common sense.”
That means expect to be potentially regularly upstaged by your children, while horrifying humiliation can quite quickly follow a moment of justified smugness.
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The 1% Club will screen on Saturday nights at 7.30pm on Eden.
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One minute, you’ll be crowing about how many page turns are required to read a 20-page paper, the next you’ll be tearing your hair out trying to work out the number between one and 100 that has the most syllables (A note of warning: you’ll need your eyesight at its sharpest, as many of the posers have a visual portion).
Like Millionaire, the questions get progressively harder and their level of difficulty has been determined (a la Family Feud) by testing them out on the British public (a close approximation of the percentage of how many “surveyed” who got them right determining its positioning in the quiz). Each of the 100 players comes in with £1000, which is then added to the prize pool when they get a question wrong – and are thus eliminated.
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Host Lee Mack’s banter is part of the appeal of The 1% Club.
After a few rounds, those remaining are given the option of trading in their money for a free pass on one question – many take up that option (or a later one which allows them to simply take that cash home with them). Once only a few – or even one – contestant are remaining, they can then take on a question that only 1% of the British public could answer correctly. Get it right – and they could take home up to £100,000.
It’s a concept that has already been sold to Israel, France and the Netherlands, although Mack’s avuncular and quick-witted banter is definitely part of the programme’s appeal. As well as gently interrogating those falling at the early hurdles, he’s not afraid to champion certain players as they head towards the final stage and potential glory.
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A sample of the type of question you’ll encounter on The 1% Club.
As he puts it himself: “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.”
If you struggle to name the capital of Nicaragua, but fully embrace a thought-provoking head scratcher like, “Which animal is half goat and one-third cow?”, then you might have just found your new favourite show.
The 1% Club screens on Saturday nights at 7.30pm on Eden. Episodes will also be available to stream on ThreeNow.
