Think you’re smarter than the average TV quiz contestant? 🧠🔥 These 10 brain-twisting questions from some of Britain’s toughest game shows—including The 1% Club and Celebrity Catchphrase—have left thousands of viewers completely stumped.

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Scroll down to see if you can crack them all

VIEWERS regularly tune into quiz shows, seeing if they would be brainy enough to take home life-changing cash prizes.

But it’s fair to say some questions are from easy – and left players scratching their heads.

Whether The 1% Club, Only Connect, The Chase or Celebrity Catchphrase, here are some of the toughest TV quiz questions.

1. What letter replaces the question mark in this sequence? YYHLY?YTRRRR – The 1% Club

Screenshot of a game show question: "What letter replaces the question mark in this sequence? YYHLY?YTRRRR"
This tricky 1% question left several contestants stumpedCredit: ITV

Can you spot the pattern in this letters sequence?

2. What connects these famous people: Julian Clary, Dick Van Dyke, Anne Hathaway and George Elliot? – Only Connect

Julian Clary at a press night after-party.
Can you work out the connection?Credit: Getty

Do you spot the link between comedian Julian Clary – with Hollywood stars Anne Hathaway and Dick Van Dyke?

3. What connects these English counties? 3 in Cambridgeshire, 2 in Staffordshire, 1 in Hertfordshire, 0 in Dorset. – Only Connect

Victoria Coren Mitchell, presenter of Only Connect, holding question cards.
Only Connect is renowned for its difficult questionsCredit: BBC

What is the common thread between these UK counties?

4. What’s the solution to this tricky riddle that stumped Mark Chapman? – Celebrity Catchphrase

Screenshot from Celebrity Catchphrase showing a fuel gauge puzzle with a hat on it.
It left Mark Chapman stumped – can you solve it?Credit: itv

Mark Chapman struggled with this riddle under time pressure – but can you “say what you see”?

5. And how about this difficult puzzle that left Nadine Coyle confused? – Celebrity Catchphrase

Illustration of a game show contestant and a cartoon depicting a race.
Nadine Coyle was left perplexed by this riddleCredit: ITV

Girls’ Aloud star Nadine Coyle struggled with this one – but can you work it out?

6. Which of these would it be impossible to do? A) Marry your cousin’s cousin, B) Marry your brother’s widow or C) Marry your widow’s sister – The 1% Club

Quiz question: Which is impossible: marrying your cousin's cousin, your brother's widow, or your widow's sister?
Can you crack this family-themed brainteaser?Credit: ITV

The 1% Club has become renowned for its brain-bending questions, can you spot the answer here?

7. Actress Joyce Frankenberg is better known by what name? – The Chase

The Beat the Chasers team: Bradley Walsh and the Chasers.
Bradley Walsh with the ChasersCredit: ITV

This actress goes by a much different name now – but do you know it?

8. Mrs Wilberforce is the old lady in what Ealing comedy film? – The Chase

The Chasers from the British quiz show *Beat the Chasers*.
The formidable Chasers from ITV’s The ChaseCredit: Rex

Do film fans know the stuff on this one?

9. Could you crack this puzzle that left Richard Madeley flummoxed?

Screenshot of a game show featuring eye characters taking a test.
Do you see the solution?Credit: ITV

This Morning legend Richard was left scratching his head – could you have better luck?

10. Miranda and Oliver are playing a game of table tennis. They change serve after every 2 points. If Oliver served first, and the score is now 6-5, who will be serving the next point?

Table tennis game question: Miranda and Oliver change serve every 2 points; Oliver served first, score is 6-5, who serves next?
A challenging The 1% Club puzzleCredit: ITV

This question has a lot to unpack – do you have a cool head and could solve it fast?

Answers

  1. E – the sequence is the last letter of the months of the year
  2. They share first names with main characters in Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five
  3. The English counties by the number of cities. Cambridge, Ely, and Peterborough are in Cambridgeshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Lichfield are in Staffordshire and St Albans is in Hertfordshire. While there are no cities in Dorset.
  4. It’s full to the brim
  5. He’s beating the traffic
  6. C) Marry your widow’s sister – as you would already be dead
  7. Jane Seymour
  8. The Ladykillers
  9. Eye test
  10. Miranda – They played 11 points, so the next point will be the 12th point. Oliver serves on points: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 10 and Miranda serves on points 3, 4, 7, 8, 11 and 12