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Rachel Riley aimed a subtle dig at Strictly Come Dancing as she opened up about her time on the show. The Countdown star appeared on the eleventh series of Strictly in 2013.

Partnered up with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev, she was the fifth celebrity eliminated in the series. It was model Abbey Clancy, partnered with Aljaž Škorjanec who eventually lifted the Glitterball Trophy, beating Susanna Reid and Kevin Clifton.

Shortly after the show finished Rachel announced that she was in a relationship with Pasha. The pair walked down the aisle in June 2019 and have since welcomed daughters Maven and Noa into the world.

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Despite appearing on Strictly and marrying a dancer, Rachel had a blunt view of her own moves. When asked if she had learnt to dance during an appearance on the Shoot Your Shot podcast, she replied: “Absolutely not. No, you learn how to hang on, you don't have enough time to learn how to dance and I'd never danced.

“So you know, that's why I went into it because you want to learn a skill and it is fun. We have danced, Pasha and I when we go travelling, which we love, we’ve danced in Cannes, we’ve danced in Bali, we’ve danced in LA, Colombia, everywhere you go there’s a salsa club.”

Rachel explained that much of her time during Strictly was spent split between her home in Essex, her Countdown commitments in Manchester, and her job on The Gadget Show in Birmingham.

She continued: “You have a week from start to finish and you have to do It Takes Two, you have to do rehearsals, you have to do some sort of filming where you pretend that squash helps you learn to dance, and you have to do all kinds of things that fit in and I’d never danced a step in my life. So, you learn how to hang on for that week.”

Rachel has been a regular on Countdown since 2009, when she took over from Carol Vorderman as the mathematics expert. She recalls being "thrilled" to secure the position shortly after completing her studies at the University of Oxford.

She has since described the Countdown role as the "only cool maths job around". Rachel returns to television this afternoon (January 16) at 2.10pm presenting Countdown alongside Colin Murray on Channel 4, before appearing on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown at 9pm on the same channel.

Pasha's final Strictly appearance came in 2018, when he reached the final with former Pussycat Dolls member Ashley Roberts. In an interview with Heat magazine, Pasha revealed it felt like the "right moment" to step away from his Strictly journey.

"It was time to move on and I don't regret it," the 45-year-old said. He described the "hardest thing" about his role as a professional on the programme as "saying goodbye" to each celebrity partner.

He continued: "Part of your heart stays with that person, then the next year you have to find energy and more love to give to the next person.

"My heart was torn into pieces and given away to random people, so I had to make one of them my wife. Rachel said it was part of her Strictly contract."