Countdown star Rachel Riley shot to fame at just 22 years of age when she replaced the long-serving Carol Vorderman.
At the helm of Carol’s old job from January 2009, Rachel is said to have had no ambition to be a television presenter, and was encouraged by her mum to apply for the role.
Beating 1,000 applicants for the role, Rachel said: “There’s only one cool maths job around and I was lucky enough to get it so I’m absolutely thrilled.”
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After garnering fame on the Channel 4 daytime show, Rachel appeared on Strictly Come Dancing years later in 2013.
It was on the dancing competition that she met her now husband Pasha Kovalev, whom she shares daughters Maven and Noa with.
But before Riley met the dance pro while competing on Strictly, she was married to her childhood sweetheart Jamie Gilbert.
Childhood sweethearts
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
Rachel and her childhood sweetheart Jamie met at Oxford University and were together until 2009 when their relationship went off course.
Breaking up with her beau after having been together for four years, the couple soon found their way back to each other and ended up marrying.
Rachel and Jamie married in August 2012 – one year before she would meet Pasha.
Speaking to Hello! magazine at the time, Rachel gushed: “It was only when we were walking down the stairs to the ceremony that I got a bit nervous.
“We were getting in position, ready to make our entrance when my dad stood on my dress. So he kind of fell over.”
Riley added: “As soon as I saw Jamie, I was waiting for his reaction to my dress.”
“She looked amazing,” said her new husband.
Settling down
(Image: CHannel 4)
Rachel and Jamie settled down briefly, with the couple living in wedded bliss for around a year.
She and her businessman husband moved to and resided in Southend, Essex for 16 months.
In the Southend Echo back in 2013, it was reported that the couple lived with their three cats.
Speaking to the publication months before she appeared on Strictly, Rachel gushed about her marriage to Jamie.
“Being married is really good. We’re settled in our house and we have three rescue cats – Raffa, Beasty and Becs,” she told the paper.
The ‘Strictly curse’
(Image: Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Back in 2013 Rachel signed up to Strictly and was partnered with her future husband before being booted off the show in week five.
One month after the show finished, Rachel ended up marriage with Jamie and soon after confirmed her relationship with Pasha.
Rachel and Pasha remained together, and in May 2019 they announced they were expecting their first child.
The following month on June 28, 2019 they got hitched in Las Vegas before welcoming their first daughter that December.
In April 2021, the couple announced that they were due to welcome a second child, and on November 5, 2021, Rachel gave birth to their second daughter.
Friends with ex-husband
(Image: Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
Slamming any theories about the so-called “Strictly curse”, Rachel told The Sun: “I’m still friends with my ex-husband. He’s great, he’s a brilliant guy.
“We were together since I was 19 and it wasn’t right.”
At the time she also said: “What Strictly did give me was distance – because I was away from home in Birmingham, Salford, Borehamwood. It was the emotional distance that I needed to break away.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
