Countdown mathematician Rachel Riley has spoken out at those who say her young children led from the "Strictly curse". The 36-year-old took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2013 when she was still married to her first husband Jamie Gilbert. In the show she was partnered with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev and after splitting from her husband began dating Pasha.
Rachel and Pasha married in 2019 and have two children together, Maven two and Noa six months. Rachel told The Times that she hates the idea of the so-called "Strictly curse".
The Countdown star was married to Jamie for just 16 months before splitting and they met at university. After the Strictly Come Dancing series had ended Rachel and Pasha began dating, leading many to believe they were victims of the infamous "Strictly curse" which has seen many contestants split up with their partners in the outside world after falling for their professional dance partners on the BBC series.
During the lastest series there were rumours about professional Giovanni Pernice and EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis and TV presenter AJ Odudu and her partner Kai Widdrington.
Other "Strictly curse" couples include Ben Cohen who split from his wife of 11 years and began a relationship with his professional partner Kristina Rhianoff and Coronation Street star Georgia May Foote split from her Coronation Street co-star to start dating her professional partner Giovanni Pernice.
Rachel said that Strictly only helped her "inevitable" divorce along. She said: “Are you calling my babies a curse? That’s not right! If you have cracks [ Strictly ] can expose them. It gave me the distance to make the break that was going to happen anyway.”
The former contestant also went on to say that the show was "fixed" something which the BBC has now denied. She said: “I think they know from the start who they want to win and what journeys they want to take different people on, to have the right balance, and they can obviously fix the scores.”
