The 1% Club, Seven’s newest comedy quiz show premieres at 7:30 pm Wednesday, 26 April on Channel Seven and 7plus.
By testing 1000 everyday Australians, questions are arranged from the ones almost everyone can answer to much harder questions. One hundred contestants begin every show and attempt to answer a selection of wordplays, puzzles, everyday facts, and pop culture references that get harder as the game progresses; starting with questions 90% of the country got right and progressing to questions smaller and smaller percentages of the population can solve.
Each payer starts with $1000 in the bank. If they get questions wrong, they are eliminated and their money goes into the prize pot. Throughout the game, contestants will be offered a chance to use the $1000 to purchase a question pass, or cash out and walk away with their money.
Whoever makes it to the end of the game will get to answer a question only 1% of the population can answer correctly. If they get it right, they can take home up to $100,000 and join The 1% Club.
Australian stand-up comedian, political commentator, actor and writer Jim Jefferies will be hosting the show and describes the new show as funny, family-friendly and frustrating.
Mediaweek spoke to executive producer from BBC Studios, John Leahy, about crunching the numbers and joining the club.
The original version of the format is from the UK, and Australia is the second English language market to pick the show up. Leahy says that there are some differences between the Australian and English versions of The 1% Club.
“The British show is a tremendous classic British primetime show with comedy – but it’s a primetime game show. While it’s a great laugh, we decided we wanted to have a really fun entertainment show that had a game show through the middle of it as its spine, as opposed to purely just a game show.
“It’s shiny floor, it’s fun, but it’s not just ‘what’s the capital of Iceland?’ – it’s not about stuff you’ve learned by rote, it’s about how you look at things.”
See Also: The 1% Club: Walking the lateral thinking tightrope