1% Club contestant begs 'delete this episode' after flunking 'easiest' question ever

It's meant to be the question almost everyone gets right - but one contestant on ITV's The 1% Club became the one of the only people in Britain to get it wrong. Presenter Lee Mack returned to host the hit ITV quiz show, where 100 contestants start each episode with £1,000 and are eliminated if they answer a question incorrectly, adding their cash to the ever-growing prize pot. The questions get progressively harder, starting with one that 90 percent of people are expected to answer correctly - but not everyone managed it this week.

In what might be the show's most awkward exit yet, a university graduate "looking for a job" was the first and only player to flunk the opening question. The 90% question asked: "What two-word phrase is represented here?" accompanied by a picture of a baby next to a set of steps. The correct answer, of course, was "baby steps." But the contestant confidently locked in "baby stairs" - prompting gasps, laughter and second-hand embarrassment across the studio.

As the rest of the room celebrated sailing through to the next round, the lone eliminated player was left red-faced.

When Lee Mack confronted him about the blunder, he could only bury his face in his hands and beg: "Can you delete this episode?"

The host couldn't resist twisting the knife, joking that the answer might not help his job hunt either. "Probably not," the player admitted sheepishly.

Viewers flooded social media to react to the cringeworthy moment, with one writing: "Not baby stairs! I had to pause the TV, I was in bits." Another said: "Imagine going on national television and being the only one to fail the 90% question. I'd move to another country."

The show's format - which has become one of ITV's biggest weekend hits - challenges contestants with logic and lateral thinking puzzles, all based on how the general public perform in polling.

Those who make it to the end and correctly answer the 1% question can scoop up to £100,000.

On a recent episode, the show wiped out every single remaining player in the final round after a particularly fiendish question left five contestants stumped - and a £97,000 prize pot unclaimed.

Host Lee, 56, asked the players: "What new word links the capitalised words below?" before reading out the sentence: "My SON TED ate raw FOOD and got SICK, then went to BED with me by his SIDE."

With just 30 seconds on the clock, each of the remaining contestants came up with a different answer - and one was so confused they couldn't even attempt a guess. Suggestions included "new" and "well," but none were right.

Lee then revealed the correct answer was "sea," explaining: "You can add the word sea to each of the capitalised words to make new words - season, seated, seafood, seasick, seabed and seaside."