The 1% Club's Lee Mack convinced of ITV 'wind up' minutes into new series
It took just minutes of The 1% Club's new series kicking off on Saturday night, for its host Lee Mack to be convinced he was a victim of a 'wind up' on the show. And it was all down to the name of a place one of the contestants claimed to be from.
As soon as it launched on ITV a few years ago, The 1% Club quickly established itself as one of the most watched game shows on British television, pulling in big ratings in its primetime weekend slot, as the nation were more than happy to play along and see if they could do any better than the competitors in the studio.
The popularity of The 1% Club was proved by its win at the National Television Awards last year and, after airing a few episodes in the run up to Christmas, as well as a festive special, the hit programme returned for a new series on January 25, with comedian Lee at the helm, as it went into the vacant space in the schedules left by Ant and Dec's Limitless Win, right after The Masked Singer.
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The opening moments of Saturday's show saw the popular presenter chat to some of the players who'd joined him on the set, including one who was convinced that, rather than taking part as normal, she was actually going to be proposed to live on TV. After the first few questions claimed a few casualties, Lee then turned his attention to a contestant who called Sarah Thompson, who was given some time in the spotlight after answering correctly.
But it was her place of residence, not her intelligence, that quickly caused a stir with Lee. As he innocently asked her where she was from, Sarah replied: "Do you really want to know?!" before explaining she was from a place called Twatt in Orkney. A taken aback Lee instantly needed some clarification as he reacted: "What?! How do you spell that?"
Having had the name spelled out to him, Lee then retorted: "You're winding me up! There isn't a place called Twatt," as Sarah assured him: "There absolutely is."
A quick search online reveals that Twatt is very much a real place and is a settlement in the parish of Birsay on the Mainland of Orkney.