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Rachel Riley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rachel Riley
MBE
Riley in 2011
Born
Rachel Annabelle Riley

(1986-01-11) 11 January 1986 (age 40)
Rochford, Essex, England
EducationOriel College, Oxford
OccupationTelevision presenter
Years active2009–present
Spouses
Jamie Gilbert
​
​
(m. 2012; div. 2013)​
​
(m. 2019)​
Children2

Rachel Annabelle Riley (born 11 January 1986) is an English television presenter. A mathematics graduate of Oriel College, Oxford, she joined the Channel 4 game show Countdown in January 2009 and also co-presents its comedy spin-off, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

Riley has co-presented The Gadget Show (2013–2014), It's Not Rocket Science (2016), and football programmes for Sky Sports. She competed in the eleventh series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2013. Her work promoting mathematics includes school visits and the book At Sixes and Sevens: How to Understand Numbers and Make Maths Easy (2021).

Riley is an anti-racism campaigner whose work includes Holocaust education and raising awareness of antisemitism.[1] She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to Holocaust education and antisemitism awareness.[2][3] In 2025, she received the Freedom of the City of London for her work in these fields.[4]

Early life and education

[edit]

Riley was born in Rochford, Essex, and grew up in Thorpe Bay, Southend-on-Sea.[5][6] Her mother is Jewish, and Riley has described her maternal family's migration from Tsarist Russia during the pogroms.[7]

She attended Thorpe Hall School and Southend High School for Girls.[8] She achieved three A grades at A-level and an AS-level before studying mathematics at Oriel College, Oxford, where she graduated with a second-class degree.[6][9]

While at university, Riley completed an internship at Deutsche Bank in the City of London. She subsequently decided against pursuing a career in finance.[10]

Television career

[edit]

Countdown

[edit]

Riley joined Countdown in January 2009, succeeding Carol Vorderman. Her appointment was announced alongside that of Jeff Stelling, who replaced Des O'Connor as the programme's main presenter. Riley's role involves displaying the letter and number selections and providing solutions to the numbers rounds.[11]

Encouraged by her mother, Riley applied because of her interest in the programme's numbers rounds. She was selected from approximately 1,000 applicants despite having no previous television presenting experience.[11]

From 2012, Riley also appeared in the same role on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, the comedy spin-off hosted by Jimmy Carr.[12]

Other presenting work

[edit]

From 2013 to 2014, Riley co-presented The Gadget Show on Channel 5 with Jason Bradbury. She appeared in three series before being succeeded by Amy Williams.[13][14]

In 2016, she co-presented the six-part ITV science entertainment series It's Not Rocket Science with Ben Miller and Romesh Ranganathan.[15]

Later that year, Riley joined Sky Sports, presenting Friday Night Football with Stelling and Fantasy Football Club with Max Rushden and Paul Merson.[16] She left Friday Night Football in 2017.[17]

Strictly Come Dancing

[edit]

In 2013, Riley competed in the eleventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev. They were eliminated in the sixth week following a dance-off against Abbey Clancy and Aljaž Škorjanec.[10] Riley later described experiencing stage fright during the series and receiving cognitive behavioural therapy to help manage it.[18]

Mathematics and other work

[edit]

Riley has visited schools to encourage interest in mathematics and science.[10][18] She has also supported National Numeracy initiatives and encouraged girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics.[4]

In October 2021, she published At Sixes and Sevens: How to Understand Numbers and Make Maths Easy.[19]

Riley is a global ambassador and UK board member of Grassroot Soccer, a charity that uses football in adolescent health programmes.[20]

In 2019, her promotion of Shell's energy initiatives drew criticism from environmental campaigners, who described the campaign as greenwashing.[21]

Campaigning and public activity

[edit]

In 2018, Riley began publicly criticising the Labour Party's handling of antisemitism allegations under Jeremy Corbyn. She said that posters describing Israel as a racist endeavour had prompted her to speak out. The posters appeared during the dispute over Labour's adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.[22][7][23] The IHRA definition lists denying Jewish self-determination, including the claim that Israel's existence is a "racist endeavor", among its examples of antisemitism, to be assessed in their overall context.[24] In September that year, she said she had no party allegiance.[25]

In January 2019, Riley spoke at a Holocaust Educational Trust reception in Parliament ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, discussing antisemitism and the abuse she had experienced after speaking publicly about it.[22] Her Holocaust education work has also included visiting Auschwitz and meeting Holocaust survivors.[4]

In February 2019, The Times reported that she had attended discussions about establishing a centrist party separate from Labour.[26] She also supported the Stop Funding Fake News campaign.[27]

Riley was among the participants in a 2022 Center for Countering Digital Hate study of abusive Instagram messages sent to high-profile women. The organisation reported that Instagram had failed to act on 90% of the abusive messages it reported.[28]

In March 2024, Riley appeared on a panel at the Swipe-Up Rise-Up conference to call on Jewish students to "be courageous" in calling out antisemitism.[29]

In a 2024 study of online reactions to Riley's opposition to a boycott of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel, researcher Karolina Placzynta identified overlapping antisemitic and misogynistic attacks. Placzynta found that comments sought to undermine Riley's professional standing and portrayed her as dishonest, manipulative or motivated by personal gain. She linked particular allegations to antisemitic stereotypes of deceit and exploitation. Comparing these responses with those directed at novelist Sally Rooney, the study found that both women faced misogynistic attacks, while Riley was additionally depicted as untrustworthy and devious in ways that echoed anti-Jewish stereotypes.[30]

[edit]

In February 2019, Riley and Tracy-Ann Oberman announced plans for legal action over social-media posts they regarded as defamatory or harassing.[31] In July 2020, they withdrew a joint libel claim against a person who had shared a link to an article accusing them of harassing a teenage Labour supporter, and agreed to contribute to the defendant's legal costs.[32]

In December 2021, Riley was awarded £10,000 in libel damages against Laura Murray, a former aide to Corbyn, over a tweet alleging that Riley had said Corbyn deserved to be violently attacked. The judge found in Riley's favour while also finding an element of provocation in her original post.[33]

In November 2022, Riley was awarded £50,000 in libel damages against blogger Michael Sivier over an article alleging that she had supported and encouraged online abuse of a teenager. The High Court rejected his public-interest defence and ordered him to remove the article and not repeat the allegations.[34]

Personal life

[edit]

Riley married Jamie Gilbert, whom she had met at Oxford, in August 2012. Their separation was announced in November 2013.[35] She subsequently began a relationship with Kovalev, her former Strictly Come Dancing partner, and they married in Las Vegas in June 2019.[36]

The couple have two daughters, born in December 2019 and November 2021.[37][38]

Riley is Jewish.[7] She and Kovalev adopted a vegan diet in 2018.[39]

She supports Manchester United.[40] The club was her specialist subject on Celebrity Mastermind in 2012, when she finished joint second.[41][42]

Honours

[edit]

Riley was appointed an MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to Holocaust education and antisemitism awareness.[2][3] In October 2025, she received the Freedom of the City of London in recognition of her Holocaust education and antisemitism campaigning work.[4]

Filmography

[edit]

Television

[edit]
Year Title Channel Role Notes
2009–present Countdown Channel 4 Co-presenter With Jeff Stelling (2009–2011), Nick Hewer (2012–2021), Anne Robinson (2021–2022) and Colin Murray (2022–present)
2010 The IT Crowd Herself Cameo as herself on Countdown
2012–present 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Co-presenter With Jimmy Carr
2013–2014 The Gadget Show Channel 5 Co-presenter With Jason Bradbury
2013 Strictly Come Dancing BBC One Participant 5th celebrity to be eliminated
2014 Memory Slam Watch Presenter
2016 It's Not Rocket Science ITV Co-presenter With Ben Miller and Romesh Ranganathan
2016–2017 Friday Night Football Sky Sports Co-presenter With Jeff Stelling
Fantasy Football Club Co-presenter With Max Rushden and Paul Merson
2019 Celebrity Countdown More4 Co-presenter With Nick Hewer
2024 Beat the Chasers ITV Contestant Won £20,000 for her chosen charity: The Angus Lawson Memorial Trust
2025 Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters ITV1 Contestant 5-part reality show[43]
The Weakest Link BBC One Contestant, Winner With Bonnie Langford

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Pope, Felix (2 November 2021). "Hard-left activists call for Big Issue boycott over Rachel Riley interview". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 5 May 2024. Far left activists are calling for a boycott of the Big Issue after the magazine published an interview with television presenter and anti-racism activist Rachel Riley.
  2. 1 2 "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N23.
  3. 1 2 Stedman, Harry (11 July 2023). "Rachel Riley to receive royal honour for Holocaust and antisemitism awareness". The Independent. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Rachel Riley receives Freedom of the City of London" (Press release). London: City of London Corporation. 22 October 2025. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  5. ↑ Geoghegan, John (5 August 2009). "Campaign can count on Rachel Riley's support". The Echo. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Rachel Riley - Biography". Hello!. 8 October 2013. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 Sylvester, Rachel; Thomson, Alice (26 January 2019). "Rachel Riley of Countdown finds her Jewish roots to take on the Corbynistas". The Times. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "More Success for Rachel Riley". Thorpe Hall School. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  9. ↑ Lewis, Tim (12 October 2014). "Rachel Riley: 'Stop saying that girls aren't as good at maths'". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 Woods, Judith (18 June 2014). "Rachel Riley: 'Strictly magnified the fault lines in my marriage'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 December 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  11. 1 2 "Sky host Stelling joins Countdown". BBC News. 21 November 2008. Archived from the original on 18 December 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
  12. ↑ Williams, Mike P. (12 February 2018). "Rachel Riley says edited out 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown jokes would 'end careers'". Yahoo News. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  13. ↑ "The Gadget Show | Meet The Gadget Show's new presenter: Rachel Riley! by The Gadget Show". Channel 5. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  14. ↑ "The Gadget Show's new presenter is an Olympic champion!". Channel 5. 25 April 2014. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014.
  15. ↑ "It's Not Rocket Science Episode 1". ITV. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  16. ↑ Sandwell, Ian (7 August 2016). "Unbelievable Jeff! Rachel Riley joins Sky Sports". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  17. ↑ Houghton, Rianne (14 June 2017). "Countdown star Rachel Riley quits Sky Sports job after receiving 'hideous personal abuse'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  18. 1 2 Jarvis, Alice Azania (7 March 2015). "Rachel Riley returns to the dancefloor". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  19. ↑ Howarth, Alice (29 October 2021). "Rachel Riley shows off baby bump as she announces her new book is out". Good Housekeeping. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  20. ↑ "Rachel Riley MBE". Grassroot Soccer. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  21. ↑ Snaith, Emma (28 June 2019). "Rachel Riley accused of 'greenwashing' for promoting oil company Shell". The Independent. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  22. 1 2 Liphshiz, Cnaan (31 January 2019). "Rising anti-Semitism brings secular UK Jews closer to their roots". The Times of Israel. Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  23. ↑ Rachel Riley on combating antisemitism, 10 years on Countdown and getting girls into maths. Channel 4 News. 9 January 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2021 – via YouTube.
  24. ↑ International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. "IHRA Antisemitism Working Definition" (PDF). True Vision.
  25. ↑ "Rachel Riley called 'thick' for criticising Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism row". The Telegraph. 12 September 2018. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  26. ↑ Devlin, Kate (11 February 2019). "Countdown star Rachel Riley attended breakaway Labour party meeting". The Times. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  27. ↑ Frot, Mathilde (3 April 2019). "How a group of friends are fighting fake news – with a hand from Rachel Riley". Jewish News. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  28. ↑ Sung, Morgan (7 April 2022). "Instagram 'systemically fails' to protect high-profile women from abuse, study finds". NBC News. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  29. ↑ Ben-David, Daniel (29 March 2024). "Be courageous and speak out against hate, Rachel Riley tells Jewish pupils". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  30. ↑ Placzynta, Karolina (21 June 2024). "The Cases of Riley and Rooney: Intersections of Misogyny with Antisemitism and Counter Speech in British Online Discourse". Antisemitism in Online Communication: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Hate Speech in the Twenty-First Century. Open Book Publishers. pp. 35–39. doi:10.11647/OBP.0406.01.
  31. ↑ Waterson, Jim (21 February 2019). "Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman to take legal action after Twitter abuse". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  32. ↑ Waterson, Jim (29 July 2020). "Rachel Riley and Tracy-Ann Oberman drop libel claim over retweet". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  33. ↑ "Rachel Riley: Countdown star wins £10,000 in damages after suing Jeremy Corbyn's ex-aide over tweet". Sky News. 20 December 2021.
  34. ↑ "Countdown's Rachel Riley awarded £50,000 in libel damages from political blogger". Sky News. 16 November 2022.
  35. ↑ Carter, Claire (29 November 2013). "Rachel Riley in split from husband". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 30 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  36. ↑ "Countdown's Rachel Riley marries Strictly's Pasha". BBC News. 1 July 2019. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  37. ↑ "Rachel Riley gives birth to baby girl – Maven Aria Riley Kovaleva". The Jewish Chronicle. 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  38. ↑ Petter, Olivia (8 November 2021). "Rachel Riley gives birth to daughter and reveals unusual name". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  39. ↑ Shahid, Sharnaz (16 June 2023). "Rachel Riley shares debilitating struggle after 'being ill for 10 years'". Hello!. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  40. ↑ "Me a sex symbol? It doesn't add up, says Rachel Riley". Daily Gazette. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  41. ↑ Walker-Arnott, Ellie (2 September 2013). "Strictly Come Dancing 2013: Rachel Riley". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  42. ↑ "Episode 7, 2011/2012, Celebrity Mastermind – BBC One". BBC. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  43. ↑ "Lenny Henry and Rachel Riley among stars diving with sharks in new show". uk.news.yahoo.com. 3 June 2025. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
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