EXCLUSIVE: The 1% Club has sold to Sweden and Italy, cementing its position as the top-selling new UK format of the past decade, according to BBC Studios.
In terms of new British-made originals, ITV’s The 1% Club, which sees 100 contestants in a studio compete to make it to the end and answer a question only 1% of the country can get right, has sold more than any other over the past eight years.
Sweden’s version for pubcaster SVT, which will be produced by BBC Studios Sweden Productions, and Italy’s for Mediaset, which comes from Blu Yazmine, brings the number of worldwide versions up to 15 on the eve of the BBC Studios Showcase. The 1% Club will be a key player in BBC Studios’ catalog this week as the distributor looks to shop the hot property to buyers in the UK capital.
Sumi Connock, BBC Studios’ EVP Global Creative Network and Formats, who sells the “gamechanging” show, said The 1% Club has proved that quiz can dominate primetime like the days of yesteryear. The UK and Australian versions in particular, which are hosted by Lee Mack and Jim Jefferies respectively, have become cornerstones of the Saturday night schedule.
“Territories often feel like they have to have the big entertainment show like The Voice or Dancing with the Stars but not many would put gameshow at the heart of a schedule,” she added. “I credit Seven Network in Australia for doing that. Not only was it their biggest show the year it launched, it was the biggest show across all networks in a territory which is really ruled by reality TV.”
Connock hopes the Swedish and Italian versions will follow suit and The 1% Club can similarly become a schedule cornerstone. She believes The 1% Club’s secret sauce comes from its repeatability in different territories and playalong nature, along with how the hosts channel its energy.
“The set gives it a very strong visual identity,” said Connock. “Obviously the UK version is a very big studio but we’ve adapted it over time meaning we can shoot in different, smaller studios, which has opened the door to more territories.”
Andy Auerbach, who co-created the show for ITV with Dean Nabarro and their Magnum Media production company, said there was an “appetite for the brain-teaser style of question” that has become so popular via The 1% Club and in day-to-day games like Wordle. “It was almost like an addiction,” he added. “People say, ‘Go on then, give me one more’, and then they want to show the question to their friends.”
Auerbach has always been enthused by how people of all generations can answer The 1% Club teasers and how it was often younger people who were the best performers. “There was one question we came across which really stumped my business partner and I and then he showed it to his 12-year-old son, who got it within two seconds,” added Auerbach. “It required a kind of visual thinking which we didn’t have. We were over-intellectualizing the question. And we thought, ‘Well if a 12-year-old can beat their parents at this game then this could be good’.”
The 1% Club’s success has been so stark of late as breakout formats in the UK in recent years have been dominated by shows that did not originate in Britain, such as The Traitors and Married at First Sight, which come from The Netherlands and Denmark respectively. To combat this, the next show from the BBC and NBC’s landmark partnership will be original British IP. Connock thinks this development might be partly down to budgets.
“Sometimes international territories have done something more cost-effective,” she added. “If a format starts in the UK then it is more expensive and it is tougher to roll out.”
No such issue for The 1% Club, which Connock said has a “pretty phenomenal” return rate in almost all territories. Only one, Mexico, canned it after one season and that was after an almost telenovela-length first run of episodes. In the UK, the show is already up to Season 5 and with stellar ratings it is showing no sign of slowing.
Interesting journey in the States
Image: Tom Griscom/FOX. ©2025 FOX MEDIA LLC
In the U.S., the team is waiting patiently on a Season 3 greenlight decision over a show that has had an intriguing journey. The first series was hosted by Patton Oswalt and aired on both Fox and Prime Video, with the former sub-licensing to the latter. The second run came off Prime and introduced a new host, Fox’s Animal Control star Joel McHale, with that season only airing on the network.
Connock said BBC Studios is happy to repeat this model in other territories as having formats on streamers and neworks doesn’t necesarily cannibalize viewing. She uses Dancing with the Stars as an example, which just had one of its most successful outings on ABC and also airs on Disney+.
The 1% Club has leant heavily on comedian hosts around the world, with the likes of Mack, McHale and Jefferies bringing wit and banter to proceedings, although Connock stressed that new territories can think beyond comics when considering hosts. Sweden and Italy are yet to announce who will present their versions.
Spin-offs and brand extensions
The team is now busy thinking up spin-offs and brand extensions. The UK version just aired Christmas and Valentines specials and has a kids special in development, which should work a treat given Auerbach’s musing on how children take to the format. BBC Studios, meanwhile, recently launched a digital 1% Club extension on Game.City, a smart TV platform, with a Nintendo Switch experience coming soon. In the UK, The Telegraph recently launched a daily 1% Club game for its subscribers.
Next up for Auerbach’s Magnum Media is BBC entertainment format Wisdom of the Crowd. Hosted by John Bishop, the 1% Club-esque show is inspired by scientist Francis Galton’s discovery from more than a century ago that crowds are better at guessing than individuals. Notably, this one is a UK original that has been filmed more quickly in Spain and Germany than in its home territory.
Auerbach believes The 1% Club and Wisdom of the Crowd demonstrate that UK commissioners still very much have an appetite for risk.
He added: “The 1% Club may not be risky in the sense that it is subversive but for ITV to take a risk on a tiny company and commission a brand new show off paper and put it in the best slot of the year after Britain’s Got Talent, I mean that seems risky in retrospect.”