Rachel Annabelle Riley (born 11 January 1986) is a British

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a " television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

. She co-presents the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

daytime puzzle show ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and ev ...

'' and its comedy spin-off '' 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown''. She is a

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

graduate. Her television debut came when she joined ''Countdown'' aged 22. With an interest in popularising mathematics and the sciences, she has since co-presented ''

The Gadget Show ''The Gadget Show'' (currently known as ''The Gadget Show: Better Tech, Better Life'') is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Ortis Deley, Geo ...

'' on Channel 5 (2013–14) and '' It's Not Rocket Science'' on ITV (2016). She was also a contestant on the BBC celebrity dance show ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

'' in 2013.

Early life and early career

Riley was born in

Rochford Rochford is a town in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford, the county town. At the 2011 census, the civil parish, which includes the town and London Southend Airport, had a population of 8,471. History ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. She was raised in the

Thorpe Bay Thorpe Bay is an area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. located on the Thames Estuary. Thorpe Bay is situated within the Thorpe ward of Southend-on-Sea. It is around 4 mi ...

area of

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...

and was educated at the independent Thorpe Hall School, and Southend High School for Girls, a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, where she obtained four As at

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

. She then completed a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in mathematics at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. During a university holiday Riley considered a career in the financial sector and completed an internship at

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...

in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. The experience put her off: she found the extreme behaviour of city traders wearing and she disliked the early-morning train commute.

Television career

''Countdown''

On ''Countdown'', Riley replaced the long-serving Carol Vorderman. Like Vorderman, Riley's role is to handle the placement of tiles on the board for the letters and numbers rounds and to find an exact solution in the numbers rounds if the contestants are unable to do so. Riley's appointment to ''Countdown'' was announced at the same time as the announcement of a new main host, Jeff Stelling, replacing Des O'Connor; the duo of Stelling and Riley was in place for the new series beginning in January 2009. Although she had no ambition to be a television presenter, she was encouraged to apply by her mother, and decided to do so because she was interested in the numbers part of the game. Having beaten 1,000 applicants for the role, she commented, "There's only one cool maths job around and I was lucky enough to get it so I'm absolutely thrilled". Since it was first broadcast on 2 January 2012, Riley has also performed her ''Countdown'' role on the comedy crossover spin-off version, '' 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'', alongside comedian

Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...

as host. While ''Countdown'' is seen as a straight light entertainment show, in explaining the difference between the two, Riley sees ''Countdown'' as the role she is happy for her grandmother to see, while ''Cats Does Countdown'' is the more risqué, cheeky role which she shows to her friends.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

From September 2013, Riley appeared in the eleventh series of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

ballroom dancing programme ''

'' with professional dancing partner

Pasha Kovalev Pavel "Pasha" Kovalev (russian: Па́вел "Па́ша" Ковалёв) is a Russian professional Latin and ballroom dancer. Kovalev started dancing at the age of eight, and in 2001, moved to the United States with his professional dance part ...

. She was eliminated in week 6 of the show, on 3 November, after losing out in the dance-off against Abbey Clancy and

Aljaž Škorjanec Aljaž Škorjanec (born 19 February 1990) is a Slovenian dancer and choreographer who has appeared on the BBC series ''Strictly Come Dancing'' as a professional dancer. In March 2022 he announced, via his Instagram account, that he was leaving t ...

, who went on to win the series. According to Riley she lacked a natural talent for performing, so instead sought to frame each dance as that of a character. For the first five weeks, Riley suffered from stage fright, commenting that "As soon as the music would start, I would have a fuzzy brain and it was like an out-of-body experience"; after seeing a cognitive behavioural therapist she was able to control her breathing, and so was only able to truly enjoy the show for what proved to be her final appearance.

Other work

From 2013 to 2014, Riley co-presented on the Channel 5 programme ''

'' with

Jason Bradbury Jason Alan Bradbury (born 10 April 1969) is a British television presenter and children's author, best known for presenting shows such as the Channel 5 technology programme ''The Gadget Show'' and the BBC One game show '' Don't Scare the Ha ...

. She presented three series of the show and was later replaced by Amy Williams. In 2016, Riley was part of the three-person presenting team for ITV's six-part series, '' It's Not Rocket Science'', billed by the network as an entertainment series celebrating science. Her co-presenters,

Ben Miller Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two serie ...

and

Romesh Ranganathan Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan (born 27 March 1978), is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and often self-deprecating comedy. Ranganathan has made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows, and in 2016 he co-p ...

, similarly had a background in science and maths. In August 2016, it was announced that Riley had joined

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

to present ''Friday Night Football'' alongside her former ''Countdown'' co-presenter Jeff Stelling, and ''Fantasy Football Club'' with Max Rushden and

Paul Merson Paul Charles Merson (born 20 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Originally a forward, Merson found success as an attacking midfielder and playmaker later ...

. She left ''Friday Night Football'' in 2017.

Personal life

In August 2012, Riley married Jamie Gilbert, whom she had met while they were both studying at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. It was announced in November 2013 that they were separating. The split has been cited as an example of the ''Strictly'' curse. She began dating her ''Strictly'' dance partner,

, soon after the show ended in December 2013. In May 2019, Riley announced that she was pregnant with the couple's first child. On 28 June 2019, Riley and Kovalev married in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

. On 15 December 2019, Riley gave birth to a baby girl. In April 2021, Riley announced that she was pregnant with the couple's second child. On 5 November 2021, Riley gave birth to their second daughter. Riley is a keen supporter of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, like her father who was originally from Salford; in October 2010, Riley presented a programme on the club's television channel MUTV that featured a tour of their Trafford Training Centre in Carrington. She has also hosted episodes of '' An Audience with...'' on the channel. To mark her 1,000th episode of ''Countdown'' (aired on 25 June 2013), United player

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his entire professional career for Manchester United and briefly served as ...

presented her with a signed team shirt, Giggs himself having celebrated his 1,000th game for the club the same year. In her appearance as a contestant on the BBC quiz show ''

Celebrity Mastermind ''Celebrity Mastermind'' is a celebrity version of ''Mastermind'', a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. It began in 2002 as a one-off special, expanding to the current arrangement of 10 episodes, broadcast during December ...

'', broadcast on 4 January 2012, her specialist subject was a limited (13-year) history of the club; she eventually finished in joint second place. In 2017, she was the co-winner with Idris Elba of the Rear of the Year award. Riley’s mother is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. She stated that, "My family came over in the

pogroms A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

" from Tsarist Russia. She is an atheist.

Campaign against antisemitism

In 2018, Riley began a campaign against the way the Labour Party under the leadership of

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialis ...

had handled allegations of antisemitism. She said she decided to speak out after seeing "

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

is a racist endeavour" posters on London bus stops. In September 2018, after criticising Corbyn over the ongoing antisemitism row, she stated she did not have "any party loyalties". In January 2019, Riley made a speech at a Westminster reception for the Holocaust Educational Trust and addressed what she described as the "hideous abuse" she had received. In ''

Jewish News The ''Jewish News'' is a free weekly newspaper, established in 1997, that serves the Jewish communities of Greater London – specifically Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex. In 2002, it won the '' Press Gazette'' free newspaper of the year. In ...

'', Riley was quoted:

In the name of Labour I've been called a hypocrite, lying propagandist, a tits-teeth-and-arse clothes horse dolly bird, weaponiser of anti-Semitism, fascist, right-wing extremist, Nazi sympathiser, Twitter cancer, thick
Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
, brainwashed, an anti-Semite, white supremacist, hate preacher, Zio political trollster, not a real Jew, a child bully, conspiracy theorist, a paedo-protector minion puppet who my dead grandfather would be disgusted by.

In February 2019, according to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' and '' i'', Riley had been involved in talks to set up a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

breakaway party from Labour. According to ''Jewish News'' in April, Riley backed the Stop Funding Fake News campaign. In November 2019, Riley posted an image on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

of herself wearing a shirt with an edited image of Corbyn carrying a sign bearing the caption "Jeremy Corbyn is a racist endeavour". The tweet was condemned by some for erasing the struggle against the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime in South Africa, the original subject of the sign, to make a political point, with some users calling for Riley to be fired. The professional photographer who took the original shot, Rob Scott, also declared his displeasure, stating she had "illegally manipulated and printed" the picture to "cynically promote her agenda", adding "I am appalled by the abuse of property, moral rights and change of anti-racist message to anti-Corbyn one." In February 2019, Riley and fellow campaigner Tracy-Ann Oberman instructed a lawyer to take action against 70 individuals who had posted tweets which Riley and Oberman regarded as either libellous or harassment. As a result, Riley and Oberman sued one person who had retweeted a link to an article which had accused Oberman and Riley of harassing a young Labour activist who had commented on antisemitism in the Labour Party. In May 2019, a High Court judge ruled that the article that was linked in the tweet was defamatory. In July 2020, Riley and Oberman dropped their joint libel suit and contributed towards the defendant's legal costs. In 2021 Riley was awarded £10,000 damages by a High Court judge after suing Laura Murray, then an aide of Corbyn, over comments made on Twitter. On 16 November 2022, Riley was awarded £50,000 in damages after a libel action against Michael Sivier, a blogger who had accused Riley of abusing a teenager during a 2019 Twitter discussion. Sivier had previously been found guilty of 3 of the 4 charges against him before the UK Court of Appeals ordered a review of them; the High Court's decision confirmed both Sivier's guilt and his reparation judgment for Riley.

Other work

Riley has visited schools to enthuse pupils on the "joys of applied maths,

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

and

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

and so on". In June 2019, Riley was criticised by environmental groups and accused of

greenwashing Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aim ...

for her promotion of the "future energy solutions" of Shell, an oil and gas company. She is listed on the website of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) as a patron. She participated in an April 2022 study by the CCDH, which found that

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

failed to act on 90% of abusive direct messages sent to high-profile women. In October 2021, Riley published her first book, ''At Sixes and Sevens: How to Understand Numbers and Make Maths Easy''.

Filmography

Television

Guest appearances

*'' Chris Moyles' Quiz Night'' (22 March 2009) *'' This Morning'' (26 March 2010) *'' 8 Out of 10 Cats'' (17 June 2011, 12 August 2011, 21 October 2011, 23 March 2012, 11 May 2012, 15 June 2012, 29 October 2012, 1 February 2013) *''

'' (4 January 2012) *'' The Bank Job: Celebrity Special'' (16 March 2012) *'' The Chase: Celebrity Special'' (19 August 2012, 8 June 2018) *'' 12 Again'' (2 November 2012) *'' Pointless Celebrities'' (17 December 2012) *'' Sunday Brunch'' (10 February 2013) *'' Five Minutes to a Fortune'' (21 April 2013) *'' Tipping Point: Lucky Stars'' (9 June 2013) *'' Top Gear'' (30 June 2013) *'' I Love My Country'' (31 August 2013) *'' Sweat the Small Stuff'' (12 November 2013) *'' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (4 February 2014) *''

The Guess List ''The Guess List'' is a British comedy game show that was broadcast on BBC One from 12 April to 24 May 2014. Presented by Rob Brydon, it features two contestants competing for a prize specially selected for them. Production The pilot episode ...

'' (24 May 2014) *'' Backchat'' (3 June 2014) *'' TV OD'' (19 June 2014) *''

Celebrity Fifteen to One ''Celebrity Fifteen to One'' is a celebrity version of the Channel 4 game show '' Fifteen to One''. William G. Stewart presented the first two episodes, which were Christmas specials that aired on 27 December 1990 and 30 December 1992. Adam Hill ...

'' (27 June 2014) *''

Virtually Famous ''Virtually Famous'' is a British comedy panel game show most recently presented by Chris Ramsey. In each episode, two teams of three panelists compete. The teams were, in the final series, captained by Vicky Pattison and Seann Walsh. The ques ...

'' (21 July 2014) *'' Celebrity Squares'' (8 October 2014) *''

Text Santa ''Text Santa'' was a charity initiative set up in 2011 by ITV to support UK-based charities during the Christmas period. The appeal to the public is to donate money mainly via text donation and profits from merchandise. The telethons have been h ...

'' (19 December 2014) *'' Would I Lie to You?'' (22 December 2014) *''

Room 101 The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. The use of contradictory ...

'' (18 February 2015) *''

Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit ''Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit'' is a British comedy panel game show, hosted by comedian Dara Ó Briain, co-starring video game journalist Ellie Gibson, and premiered on Dave on 5 September 2016. The show's format is themed around two teams – E ...

'' (26 September 2016) *'' Saturday Kitchen'' (3 December 2016) *''

Play to the Whistle ''Play to the Whistle'' is a British sports comedy panel game show that aired on ITV from 11 April 2015 to 4 April 2017. In each episode two teams of three competed in sports knowledge rounds and physical games to achieve points for their team ...

'' (28 February 2017) *'' Through the Keyhole'' (3 February 2018) *'' The Crystal Maze'' (22 June 2018) *'' Richard Osman's House of Games'' (12-16 November 2018) *''

Michael McIntyre's The Wheel ''The Wheel'' is a British television game show hosted by Michael McIntyre, mainly broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC One. Production McIntyre explained that he first thought of ideas for ''The Wheel'' while taking a bath, envisioning th ...

'' (9 January 2021) *''

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip ''Antiques Road Trip'' (also known as ''Celebrity Antiques Road Trip'') is a BBC television series produced by STV Studios. It was first shown on BBC Two from 2010 to 2012, and has been shown on BBC One since 2013. This show is not to be conf ...

'' (9 November 2021) *'' Saturday Kitchen

Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , ...

Special'' (24 September 2022) She has also made brief appearances in '' Dispatches'', '' Britain's Brightest'' and '' 1001 Things You Should Know''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Rachel 1986 births Living people Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford British atheists British Jews British television presenters Countdown (game show) Jewish atheists People educated at Southend High School for Girls People from Rochford People from Southend-on-Sea Secular Jews Television personalities from Essex