LEE Mack’s The 1% Club has returned for a festive special, with Christmas themed questions already catching out contestants.

The ITV show sees contestants faced with questions designed to test how their brain works, rather than their intelligence level.

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The festive special of The 1% Club saw many Christmas themed questions[/caption]

ITV

The second question stumped contestants, with 28 knocked out by the spot the difference[/caption]

They have to use their logic, reasoning and common sense as they are whittled down to one final question that only 1% of the country can answer correctly.

This is all in an effort to try and take home the jackpot prize of up to £100,000.

This year’s Christmas special featured festive themed questions, but it wasn’t long before those trying to win the money were stumped.

With the second question focusing on a Christmas ‘spot the difference’, viewers at home were left stunned to find that 28 contestants had failed to get the answer right.

The question pictured a festive scene where contestants had to spot what was differing between the two, with the answer being a missing pair of Santa’s legs.

Taking to X, one viewer wrote: “28 people getting the second question wrong!”

Another shared: “28 people. Wow”.

“What on earth were those 28 people looking at?” asked another baffled viewer.

This wasn’t the only question that viewers at home were shocked to see the contestants struggling with, as some questioned whether the Christmas special quiz had been made ‘easier’.

One viewer shared on social media: “these questions are exceptionally easy. how anyone’s getting them wrong i’ll never know.”

Another simply put: “Too easy.”

The festive special sees comedian Lee Mack back at the helm of the quiz show, which won Best Quiz Game Show for the third year in a row at the NTA Awards.

The series has also been recommissioned for a fifth series, with ITV bringing back the show for this festive special and also a charity one for Soccer Aid.

A source previously told us: “The show has well and truly proved its popularity with viewers, and so it’s only natural to bring it back for not one, but two more rounds.

“This will also include two Christmas specials, which will air on ITV after the main series have run.”

Previous episodes of The 1% Club are available on ITVX.

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The answer was Santa’s legs were missing in the second image[/caption]

ITV

Lee Mack returned to present the festive special of the ITV quiz show[/caption]

SINGER Dua Lipa is going into 2025 as a bride-to-be after boyfriend Callum Turner proposed.

Pals told The Sun the pair quietly got engaged and are planning to celebrate with their friends and family on New Year’s Eve.

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Stunning singer Dua Lipa is going into 2025 as a bride-to-be[/caption]

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Dua and Callum Turner quietly got engaged and are planning to celebrate on New Year’s Eve[/caption]

It caps off a great 2024 for Dua, 29, and actor Callum, 34, who have been dating since the start of the year.

A source said: “Dua and Callum are so in love and know this is forever.

“They are engaged and couldn’t be happier.

“Dua has had one of the best years of her career professionally and this is the cherry on the cake.

“Callum is such a solid support for Dua and they make a wonderful couple. Their family and friends are so happy. It’s been an amazing Christmas for them.”

Dua, whose hits include New Rules, Physical and Houdini, posted a snap on Instagram of her wearing a ring on her engagement finger.

She has just finished the first leg of her stadium tour and returned to the UK from Asia to spend Christmas with family and Callum.

Last week The Sun revealed Dua and Callum were planning a big New Year’s Eve bash in London. It will now be a chance for them to celebrate their engagement.

An insider added: “Dua and Callum have gone all out with this party.

“It’s in a top-secret location with all their famous pals invited, along with their families.

“It will be a New Year’s Eve party no one will ever forget, especially for Callum and Dua.”

They were first seen together in January at an after-party for the premiere of his Apple TV miniseries Masters of the Air.

They danced in Beverly Hills before they were photographed together for the first time days later — having dinner with friends in Los Angeles.

Callum joined Dua’s family this summer as she headlined at Glastonbury, and was also at several recent gigs, including one at the Royal Albert Hall.

splash news

BBC bosses want to make a Gavin & Stacey spin-off show after the finale scored the highest Christmas Day TV audience for 16 years.

A peak of 12.5 million saw Nessa and Smithy get hitched in the sitcom’s highly anticipated conclusion.

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Gavin and Stacey co-writers James Corden and Ruth Jones[/caption]

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The Gavin and Stacey cast and crew gather for one last time on set[/caption]

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The final frame seen by viewers in the Christmas Day finale[/caption]

Millions more are expected to have watched on catch-up.

Insiders say execs are keen to coax more material from co-writers James Corden and Ruth Jones.

A source said: “It would be madness to close the door on such a hit.”

The spin-off could come in the form of a sitcom following warring couple Dawn and Pete, insiders said.

A TV source said: “James and Ruth are adamant this is the last of Gavin & Stacey. But, when a programme achieves such results, execs will always hope for more.

“At the end of the day, ratings talk and it would be madness to close the door on such a hit forever when fans loved it so much.

“Bosses have had casual discussions about whether options like a Pete and Dawn spin-off could work.

‘Bosses live in hope’

“They were always more separate to the main group and a new universe could be developed which didn’t involve any of the core cast, so James and Ruth’s involvement could be a little different.”

The 2019 Christmas special, when Nessa, played by Ruth, proposed to Smithy (James) was supposed to be the final episode. But The Sun then sensationally revealed the gang were coming back five years on.

Our source went on: “No one thought James and Ruth would ever return following 2019’s special, so it’s definitely considered a ‘never say never’ situation and bosses live in hope.

“Even when news of this Christmas special broke, Ruth denied it publicly, so any plans will always be shrouded in secrecy.

“At this point they are rightly so proud of what they delivered and why would they risk ruining it all? But no one can be blamed for one day hoping for more.”

The BBC last night said there were no plans for a spin-off.

Christmas Day’s classic finale saw Nessa and Smithy get the happy ending fans were hoping for. But other characters have obvious room for more, after Pete and Dawn Sutcliffe divorced then were reunited.

There is also Stacey’s mum Gwen West finding love with Nessa’s ex Dave Coaches. Fan favourites such as Smithy’s sister Rudi and his mates Budgie, Chinese Alan and Fingers are also candidates.

The BBC has had huge success with spin-offs that are based within the same “universe” as a popular show, such as Beyond Paradise and now Return To Paradise for cop show Death In Paradise.

The source said: “As with any big shows, options are always discussed in planning meetings and there are obvious options within Gavin & Stacey.

“It’s all down to James and Ruth whether anything will be developed, though.”

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Some characters have obvious room for more, after Pete and Dawn Sutcliffe divorced then were reunited[/caption]

The 2024 special surpassed its 2019 predecessor by more than half a million viewers. Yesterday, photos were released of the cast and crew posing for final photos on set.

Charlotte Moore, BBC’s Chief Content Officer, said: “Ruth Jones and James Corden created a magical finale fans will treasure forever.

“Their exquisitely written comedy creation is a show all about family, love and joy and it proved to be the unmissable TV event of the year.”

The special was packed with twists and big reveals, kicking off with the dreaded Sonia being Smithy’s bride-to-be at the start of the episode, not Nessa.

Christmas Day on the BBC brought people together in their millions.

Charlotte Moore

Actress Laura Aikman, who plays Sonia, told on the night how she kept it a secret from loved ones.

She posted a video of her family gasping when she appeared. Laura wrote: “I take an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) very seriously! The moment my family realise Sonia is ruining Christmas again.”

The finale crowned an epic Christmas Day for the BBC, which had all the top ten most-watched programmes.

The return of Wallace & Gromit with Vengeance Most Fowl drew in the next biggest tally, with a peak of ten million, followed by stalwarts including Call The Midwife, Doctor Who and Strictly.

ITV’s best efforts came from The Chase’s celebrity special with 2.9 million and Freddie Flintoff’s Bullseye special on 2.4 million.

Ms Moore said: “Christmas Day on the BBC brought people together in their millions. I’m very proud the line-up was a showcase for the very best in British storytelling.”

IT’S not Gavin & Stacey’s fault, but I’d started hating the Christmas special long before it came to screen.

A resentment you can probably put down to personal failings and the fact that rolling news, the print media and even the BBC’s main bulletins seemed to be hyping the 90-minute episode’s expectations way beyond a point it could possibly deliver.

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Gavin & Stacey finale spared audience from the one thing that infected other significant parts of the BBC’s Christmas Day TV[/caption]

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For the first half of the episode, Alison ‘Pam’ Steadman seemed to be performing instead of acting, to an annoying degree[/caption]

Without anything else worth watching on Christmas Day, since the last Gavin & Stacey special in 2019, the longing was as understandable as it was damning, I suppose.

But for the first half, at least, it seemed like all the pre-publicity had been a dreadful miscalculation.

The storyline was going nowhere and everyone, bar James Corden and Ruth Jones, who’ve written themselves the two best parts, seemed to be performing instead of acting, to an annoying degree in the cases of Rob “Bryn” Brydon and Alison “Pam” Steadman.

They clearly knew something we didn’t, though.

Because, as soon as Smithy and Sonia’s abortive wedding scene kicked in, everything made perfect sense.

It was an old-fashioned love story that had momentum, heart, soul, staggeringly good stars, Anna Maxwell Martin and Sheridan Smith, and also the good sense to flag up its own plot holes, on the final chase to Southampton Docks.

As I’m sure the whole audience was screaming “Give her a ring,” long before Joanna Page’s Stacey said “I’ll try her on her mobile” and Jason replied “Why didn’t we just call her in the first place?”

They would have looked daft, of course, if the show hadn’t delivered the ending the audience craved and deserved.

But it gave the people what they wanted, a Smithy and Nessa wedding, and spared them from the one thing that infected other significant parts of the BBC’s Christmas Day TV, preachiness.

For there were no gear-crunching references to diversity, as we got in the King’s Speech and EastEnders, nor was there any bleating about the arms trade, as in Doctor Who.

For 90 minutes on Christmas Day, TV was a glorious, happy, woke-free zone again.

And if you think the BBC will learn from Gavin & Stacey’s triumph and cut the political lectures in 2025?

Well, I’d settle back and watch the Christmas special again and again, if I were you.

TUCKED away in London’s posh Belgravia neighbourhood is a hi-tech hotel that has ‘smart beds’ worth as much as a house deposit.

I’m The Sun’s resident tech expert, and I spent a night in the gadget-laden Eccleston Square Hotel earlier this month.

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Eccleston Square Hotel is a hi-tech haven nestled in the heart of Belgravia[/caption]

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The Sun’s tech editor Sean Keach very willingly tests out the massage feature on a £30,000 bed[/caption]

Eccleston Square Hotel

The hotel is packed with gizmos – but still manages to look classy and refined[/caption]

From the outside, you’d never guess that it’s packed to the rafters with tech.

The hotel lives inside two Grade II-listed late-Georgian townhouses. Winston Churchill and his family once lived just a few doors down.

But despite its obvious history, the Eccleston Square Hotel is very much in the 21st Century.

The handcrafted Swedish Hästens bed is the main attraction of each room. My own bed might never feel the same again.

These luxurious smart beds retail at over £30,000 and are electronically adjustable.

A remote control by its side lifts various portions of the bed up and down to your liking. You don’t even have to sit up on your own. It’ll do it for you.

And when you’re done? Vrooosh. Back down for a peaceful slumber.

Better still, there’s an in-built massage function that gives your entire body a rub-down.

It’s jarring at first because – obviously – beds don’t normally massage you. Usually that’s a hefty fee to a skilled masseuse at a spa.

But this free massage is all part of the £152-a-night ESH experience.

It’s great fun, and very welcome after a long day traipsing around London.

Bizarrely, the eye-wateringly expensive bed wasn’t actually my favourite bit.

The top feature goes to the smart-glass bathroom wall that turns from see-through to totally opaque with a single touch.

It’s shockingly effective and lets you immediately block out the rest of the room – or open it up, if you’d prefer.

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The smart-glass wall can be see-through if you like…[/caption]

Sean Keach / The Sun

…but at the touch of a button, the wall can turn cloudy, making it impossible to look through[/caption]

Sean Keach / The Sun

The Sun’s tech expert couldn’t get enough of the magical bathroom wall[/caption]

The glass transforms right before your eyes, so suddenly that it’s hard to believe what you’re seeing is real.

This effect is so magical that it’s probably worth a visit for any Harry Potter fans visiting the capital.

I lost about ten minutes just turning the smart-glass on and off. I had a similar experience in a Porsche with a roof that did much the same thing earlier this year. That was more expensive, mind.

The bathroom wall isn’t the only thing that’s electronically controllable.

Eccleston Square Hotel

The hotel rooms feature panels that let you control all of the gizmos with quick touches[/caption]

Glossy panels let you tinker with lighting and heating, and the room curtains are powered too.

There’s also underfloor heating built to keep the hotel temperature stable, avoiding “dips or spikes”, I’m told.

Once you finally finish tinkering with all of the gizmos, you can hop back on the bed and enjoy a bit of telly.

Yes, it’s a smart TV – an Apple TV in fact, which means you get a dizzying array of apps, as well as the option to AirPlay content to it from your iPhone.

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The hotel rooms feature Apple TV so you can watch just about anything you’d like[/caption]

Sean Keach / The Sun

The posh Swedish bed is controlled by a handy remote that lets you choose exactly where you’d like to be massaged[/caption]

And the hotel is also equipped with super-fast Wi-Fi so the above features actually work, rather than just drive you mad by not loading properly.

The problem with the hotel, really, is that the rooms are so fun that you can forget you’re supposed to be on holiday.

So if you do stay, make sure to limit yourself to strict gadget-handling hours – and then head out into the city for a bit of a tech detox.

Just make sure you back after for that free smart-bed massage.

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The hotel is inside a pair of stunning Grade II-listed Georgian townhouses[/caption]

Sean Keach / The Sun

You overlook Eccleston Square, where Winston Churchill once lived[/caption]

Remain firm

KEIR Starmer must resist the incessant siren calls of Remainers in his party.

For the first time this decade, Britain has an Anglophile US President keen to do a deal which could transform our economic fortunes.

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Sir Keir Starmer must resist the incessant siren calls of Remainers in his party[/caption]

What is the point of risking that relationship by cosying up further to a failed EU which we fought so hard to free ourselves from?

Don’t take our word for it.

Listen to Shanker Singham, one of the world’s leading trade experts.
Living standards have no chance of getting better if Labour resets ties with Brussels and ends up derailing a US deal, he says.

Britain’s post-Brexit place in the lucrative CPTPP group of trading countries would also be put at risk.

Our current trade with the EU is working.

Brexit freedoms must not be thrown away at the insistence of those Remainiac MPs who have never forgiven voters for inflicting that 2016 Referendum defeat.

We trust the Prime Minister won’t make a fatal mistake by listening to them now.

No panic, Kemi

NIGEL Farage’s boast that Britain’s youngest political party now has more members than the oldest in the world is, on the face of it, bad news for the Tories.

Right now Reform is cashing in on widespread dismay at Labour’s stuttering start in Government.

But there is no need for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to start panicking just yet.

A General Election is not likely for at least four years.

That’s plenty of time for the Tories to put their catastrophic defeat behind them and come up with serious solutions to the country’s many problems.

Showing true Conservative values and policies is the way for Badenoch to win voters’ trust, land punches on Labour — and deal with the rise of Reform.

Hope for Beeb

FOR the first time in years the BBC served up a feast of Christmas telly.

The superb ending to Gavin and Stacey and the sublime Wallace and Gromit provided us with rare moments of national unity.

In their own ways, these brilliant shows are celebrations of traditional British values and ordinary lives.

Each had their own little digs at wokery and warnings of the stupidity of being led by social media.

Food for thought for BBC bosses obsessed with both.

This was a timely reminder that the job of the national broadcaster is to cater for the majority — not the minority.

To stop preaching and make shows that we all want to watch together.

LIVERPOOL came from behind to extend their lead at the top of the tree to seven points.

After seeing Chelsea lose earlier, the Reds suffered a shock start when Jordan Ayew turned in for strugglers Leicester.

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Curtis Jones proved the matchwinner for Liverpool after rolling in just after half-time[/caption]

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The midfielder made no mistake and survived a long VAR check[/caption]

But from then on it was one-way traffic.

Cody Gakpo curled home a beauty on the stroke of half-time and Curtis Jones rolled in just after the break to turn the game on its head.

Gakpo was denied a second by a marginal VAR offside call while at the other end Patson Daka forgot to kick the ball when presented with a great chance.

But Mo Salah made sure of the points with a classy finish into the far corner late on.

THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..

The Sun is your go to destination for the best football, boxing and MMA news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheSunFootball and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunFootball.

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Jordan Ayew gave Leicester the perfect start inside six minutes[/caption]

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Cody Gakpo curled home a superb equaliser just before the break[/caption]

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The Dutchman saluted his fans after his important goal[/caption]

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Mo Salah bent the ball into the bottom corner[/caption]

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That was Salah’s 100th home Premier League goal – 98 for Liverpool after two for Chelsea[/caption]

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The fog caused chaos and even threatened to postpone the match beforehand[/caption]

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Jakub Stolarczyk came in for Danny Ward to make his Premier League debut[/caption]

THE Masked Singer UK fans slammed judge Jonathan Ross during tonight’s Christmas special over a repeated ‘habit’ that drives them wild.

Jonathan was trying to guess the identity of Turkey Crown in the festive one-off, where he was joined by regular panellist Mo Gilligan and guest detectives French and Saunders.

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Jonathan has a repeat habit that drives viewers mad[/caption]

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He continually guesses that Mary Berry is behind the mask[/caption]

The mystery singer sang A Wonderful Christmastime, and teased various clues about their identity – including a clue about ‘relative values’ and let slip that that they were popular with kids in Kindergarten.

But Jonathan rubbed viewers up the wrong way by guessing Mary Berry – a guess he makes most episodes, despite the baking legend never appearing behind the masking.

Naturally, viewers took to X, formerly twitter, to vent at him trotting out the same prediction over and over.

One ranted: “Can we please get Mary Berry on the show if only to stop Jonathan making the same crap joke?”

A second screamed: “If i hear one more Mary Berry thing from Jonathan i’m gonna lose it.”

A third wrote: “Wouldn’t be a masked singer episode without Jonathan guessing Mary Berry.”

A fourth eye-rolled: “Jonathan guessing Mary Berry klaxon!”

And a fifth chimed in: “It wouldn’t be a Masked Singer episode if Jonathan didn’t guess Mary Berry at least once.”

It turned out that, once again, Jonathan was way off the mark.

Turkey crown was, in fact, unmasked as Strictly Come Dancing judge, Motsi Mabuse.

The Kindergarten clue was a reference to her living in Germany and running a dance school there.

Meanwhile, the ‘relative values’ mention was a clue that referred to her equally famous sibling, Oti.

Earlier in the episode, Christmas Cracker was exposed as This Morning star Josie Gibson.

“This is so out of my comfort zone!” Josie confessed after she lifted the mask.

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French and Saunders joined Mo and Jonathan on the panel[/caption]

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Davina McCall tricked her fellow judges to be unmasked as Star[/caption]

But the biggest shock came when second place finisher Star was revealed to be none other than The Masked Singer’s own Davina McCall.

The long-running panellist has revealed how she pulled a sickie to fake the big reveal.

Davina said: “I was texting the bosses at eight o’clock, who were obviously in on it, but I had to text them and to tell them I had to miss the recording of the Christmas special.

“They had to text the whole production team and tell them.”

Davina came second to Nutcracker, who won the show and was unmasked as Frankie Goes to Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson.

The Masked Singer returns for a new series on Saturday Jan 4 at 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

TOP darts players have become household celebrities and sport’s equivalent of rock stars, according to Nathan Aspinall.

The Asp, 33, has changed his family’s life for the better by earning millions from the sport over the past few years.

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Thanks to the emergence of prodigious teen Luke Littler, part of the same management group as Aspinall, the profile and promotion of the elite throwers jumped to another level.

Two-time major champion Aspinall — who hails from Stockport — says it is rare for him to go out these days without being stopped and asked for a selfie.

And he compares it to the same nationwide attention Jimmy White, Steve Davis, Alex Higgins and  Tony Knowles captured when snooker enjoyed a boom time around 40 years ago.

Barry Hearn’s Matchroom stable of potters even had a top-ten hit alongside Chas & Dave in 1986.

Aspinall plays Andrew Gilding in round three of the PDC World Championship on Saturday afternoon after seeing off Leonard Gates.

And the Asp said: “Being in the spotlight is tough.

“I do believe we are the snooker players of the 80s. Snooker players in the 80s were hanging around with the likes of Guns N’ Roses.

“Everyone wants a piece of a darts player now. Everyone loves darts and, yes, it comes from Luke Littler But Luke Littler is a 17-year-old kid.

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“The other lads, myself, Michael Smith, Gezzy Price, they are the ones they can get close up to.

“I might be out in  Manchester on a Friday night and, oh my God, it’s mental.

“It’s unbelievable but you’ve got to look at it in a positive light. And think, ‘Wow, darts is that popular’. I never thought I was a celebrity until this year. But I am.

“And people love meeting me, love having pictures.

“What Littler and Luke Humphries have done over the last 12 months, it’s been unbelievable.

“Every single darts player I know in the top 16, we thank them for what they’re doing because we are going to achieve and make a lot of money.

“Do I know any rock stars? Well, I’m good mates with the guys from The Blossoms.

“I went to school with them. I think the only difference is the fact it’s all about social media nowadays, isn’t it?”

Fossil fuel companies will be forced to pay to help New York fight the effects of climate change with the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to cop fines.