The 1% Club season 3 is back on ITV for another exciting series of primetime quizzing.
Excitingly, the show's success has seen ITV backing the show big time, doubling the length of the series from eight to a total of 16 episodes and another Chrismas special set to air later this year.
Produced by Magnum Media, this addictive quiz format tests logic and common sense, unlike other general knowledge shows. The series has continued to be a big hit: When ITV confirmed the future of The 1% Club at the start of March, they revealed over 5 million viewers were tuning in, and ITV recently revealed the show's only getting bigger.
It's now being called 'the biggest game show on UK television', with the current series averaging 5.8 million viewers in consolidated figures, making it ITV's biggest original game show in a decade.
Viewers will know that there's been some disruption across the series and that's continued this weekend. However, you'll be pleased to know we're not missing another episode, it's simply scheduled for a slightly later time. If you're trying to find out when the next episode will air, here's everything you need to know about The 1% Club season 3.
The 1% Club season 3 release date and next episode
The 1% Club season 3 premiered on Saturday, February 17 at 8.50 pm on ITV1 and ITVX. New episodes have generally aired in the same slot on Saturday nights, though the show has taken occasional breaks here and there.
The 1% Club season 1 is currently being repeated on ITV1 (August 2024).
How Does The 1% Club work?
In The 1% Club, 100 contestants sit down at the start of every show with £1,000 in their pot.
Contestants are tasked with trying to correctly answer a question that certain percentages of the UK population would get right. In a round, if someone gets the answer wrong, their money goes into the prize pot for everyone to try and win.
There are 15 questions in total. The first round features a question that 90% of the country (based on a sample of answers from 1,000 Britons) would get right, with harder and harder questions arriving to whittle the contestants down.
Anyone who makes it to the 15th question (or who advances the furthest in the game if all 100 contestants are eliminated in a round) is considered a finalist. They're either given the choice of taking an equal share of £10,000 or the chance to attempt the final 1% question.
How much can you win on The 1% Club?
The cash prize is a life-changing amount of cash, as contestants could stand to win a maximum of £100,000.
Our first finalist, Tessa, came pretty close to bagging almost all the money in episode 1. The 19-year-old criminologist had the chance to play for £94,000 after becoming the last person standing, but she was flummoxed by the final question and decided to walk away with £10,000 without having to solve it.
If you were wondering, the last question was: "Using only two letters to fill in the blanks, what is the word below? P _ _ _ E _ _ I _ N'. (the answer was 'Possession').
Tessa leaves the show happy! Well done to her. She played brilliantly. #The1PercentClub pic.twitter.com/LudEDLLb62February 17, 2024
Who hosts The 1% Club season 3?
In 2023, Lee Mack earned himself a BAFTA TV Award nomination for hosting The 1% Club, and he's back again for season 3.
When the series was recommissioned in April 2023, Lee said: "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."
Executive Producer Dean Nabarro also told us that Lee was the 'number one choice' for The 1% Club host. "Humour was important to us. We didn't want anyone to feel like an idiot for getting a question wrong, only clever if they got it right — and Lee is the perfect balance of being curious and bright himself, but with no superiority over others. So no one minds if he takes the mickey out of them," he added.
Is there a trailer?
Yes! ITV released a trailer on social media, and it sees Lee Mack joking with some of our contestants and inviting us to consider just how smart we are and whether we're up to joining The 1% Club ourselves. Check it out below:
The 1% Club Series 3 starts on Saturday 8.50pm on @itv @ITVX and @WeAreSTV Come join us and play along! What percent question will you get to? pic.twitter.com/mxQJy0lZljFebruary 11, 2024
Will there be another series of The 1% Club?
ITV has confirmed that The 1% Club won't be going anywhere anytime soon!
The series has been a colossal hit for the network — as we mentioned, season 3's been pulling in over 5 million viewers — so it's not exactly a surprise that the show's sticking around.
On March 7, ITV revealed the quiz show had been recommissioned for two further seasons (with each also including a Christmas special).
Talking about the news, host Lee Mack said: "Well let's be honest, the fact that I haven’t accidentally given a hundred grand to the wrong person or read out the answer instead of the question is as much a surprise to me as it is to everyone else.
"So I'm delighted that ITV are risking me steering this ship once again! Can't wait to discover more of the nation’s brainboxes".
In late May, ITV revealed that applications to take part in the series are now open. They'll remain open ('subject to the producer's discretion') until Friday, October 4. You can find more information and apply via the ITV "Be on TV" website.
