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<\/p>\nViewers of Lee Mack’s ITV quiz show The 1% Club have been left baffled by a question which stumped the programme’s contestants, even after the answer was revealed.<\/p>\n
The comedian turned presenter gave the show’s finalist 30 seconds to come up with the first number which when spelled out, has all its letters in alphabetical order.<\/p>\n
The 1% Club tests 100 members of the public’s common sense, logic and intelligence, with rounds determined by how many of the hundred answered correctly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elliot, the sole finalist, was distraught as he realised that his answer – four – was incorrect, as it was eventually revealed that the correct answer was 40 (forty).<\/p>\n
Viewers of the exchange on TikTok\u00a0remained largely unconvinced by the answer, questioning how 40 is spelled, and if there is not another number which fitted the criteria before it.<\/p>\n
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Baffled: Viewers and contestants alike were left scratching their heads after learning the answer to a final round of Lee Mack’s ITV quiz show The 1% Club<\/p>\n
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Unlucky:\u00a0Elliot, the sole finalist, was distraught as he realised that his answer – four – was incorrect<\/p>\n
One commenter asked: ‘How did people get to 40… I was still working out THREE.’<\/p>\n
However, many wondered how ‘forty’ could be the correct spelling when ‘four’ contains a U<\/span>.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Isn’t it spelled fourty?’ One viewer asked.<\/p>\n Another concurred, asking: ‘Since when is forty spelled without a u? You know… as in four?’\u00a0<\/p>\n If that were the case, 40 would no longer be a correct answer as U <\/span>comes after R <\/span>in the alphabet.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, this appears to be a case of poor spelling on mass, likely down to the fact that such high numbers are so rarely written down.<\/p>\n And unlike ‘color’ or ‘neighbor’ this is not a case of Americanisation of spelling as it might appear, with this spelling of 40 dating back to at least the 16th century<\/p>\n Before then, ‘fourty’ had been appearing as one of many spellings of the word in Middle English – from the 12th century.<\/p>\n How? Many viewers could not understand how 40 was the correct answer to the final question<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/17\/11\/77925453-12746867-image-m-2_1700219081398.jpg\")
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