Lee Mack, the star of ITV’s game show The 1% Club, was left speechless after a contestant revealed a “heartbreaking” reason for her appearance on the show.
The popular programme returned to our screens on Saturday, January 25, with Lee leading the way as 100 contestants tested their common sense.
At the beginning of the episode, Lee asked the participants about their confidence levels, which led to some humorous responses. However, when he turned his attention to Alice, who was rather reticent, things took an unexpected turn.
After joking that she didn’t seem very confident, Alice confessed: “I don’t actually know what I’m doing here, I thought this was a scam, my boyfriend was going to propose.”
This revelation led to a moment of stunned silence before laughter broke out among the other contestants.
A visibly moved Lee responded: “That is heartbreaking”, and then asked if her boyfriend had put her forward for the show.
Alice explained: “No, so I applied myself but I didn’t ever think I was going to make the show.”
She added that even when she received the email confirming her participation, she still believed it was part of a proposal plan by her boyfriend.
Lee, still in disbelief, asked: “Hang on, so you set off this morning still thinking that you might be proposed to?”, to which Alice confirmed that was indeed the case.
Lee Mack couldn’t resist poking fun on set: “And then when you saw the studios, did you still think ‘he’s going to be in there!’
“You didn’t think it was going to be live on television did you?”, he queried as she admitted: “There’s still a part of me that thinks he might come out halfway through.”
However, Lee quickly interjected: “Yeah I don’t want to shatter your dreams but he’s not”, prompting audience giggles.
He playfully continued the banter: “If I said ‘let’s have a look at your 5% question’ and his face went ‘will you marry me? ‘ and you went ‘yeah’ and they all went ‘is that the question? ‘ and they all put yes and you said no and everyone’s out, this would be your fault.”
Despite Lee’s teasing, Alice remained hopeful, replying, “Yeah but maybe you’re all part of it” only for Lee to quip that this wasn’t “The Truman Show”.
Meanwhile, fans tuned into The 1% Club were quick to jump onto X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts on the proposal speculation.
Comments ranged from bemused to supportive, with one viewer stating, “Alice what are you on about”, while another empathised, “Poor Alice, I hope he has proposed, if not, you can do better”.
Another chimed in with “Oh my word…that’s awkward” and someone else couldn’t believe it, saying, “You’re on a game show and you think you’re gonna be proposed to?”
In a lighter tone, one fan speculated, “Bet her boyfriend is on a last minute dash to the Jeweller’s for an engagement ring now..”
THe 1% Club continues every Saturday at 8.30pm on ITV and ITVX.
