Gameshow contestant hid jackpot win from his family for a year

The 24-year-old gambled his £10,000 to win huge prize on Lee Mack gameshow ‘The 1% Club’

A man who won £99,000 on Lee Mack’s ITV quiz show has told of how he managed to keep his prize secret from his family for nearly a year.

Last year, Daniel O’Halloran was a contestant on The 1% Club, a show hosted by the comedian and actor.

On the show, which began airing in April 2022, 100 contestants take part with each one holding a £1,000 stake. They are then asked a series of probability-based questions, with any wrong answers leading to elimination.

On Saturday (29 April) night’s episode of the show, O’Halloran, who hails from the Wirral, became the last person standing in the game.

He was then given the choice to take home £10,000 or gamble one more question to win the jackpot of £99,000.

The 24-year-old ended up gambling and winning £99,000, just £1,000 shy of the top prize of £100,000.

The episode was filmed in July 2022, but only aired in May 2023, leaving O’Halloran with nearly a year to keep the amount he won a secret.

His parents are massive fans of the show, with his mum applying for her son, but were kept in the dark about the prize amount. O’Halloran only confided in his grandmother, calling it “our little secret we shared together”.

His episode was filmed in July but only aired the following April (ITV)

“I always said I would take home the £10,000 if I got to the end,” he told The Chester Standard.

“For the last nine months, my family had thought I’d taken the £10,000 because I wouldn’t have been able to keep a whole secret.”

He continued: “On Saturday, we all watched it together and when I said I would take on the question they were just going nuts.

“It was just the best thing because it’s been difficult not telling them all.”

O’Halloran said that he was going to spend the money on going to a couple of festivals this summer, as well as supporting his immediate family.