The Countdown presenter, 33, was married to Jamie Gilbert for 16 months before it was confirmed they had parted ways while she was competing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013. Speaking to Alastair Campbell, 61, for British GQ, Rachel Riley spoke out about the breakdown of her marriage, reiterating that her relationship with her Strictly partner and now boyfriend Pasha Kovalev, 39, hadn’t started until after her divorce. “At that time, I was doing Countdown and The Gadget Show, so I was living in Essex, I was filming in Birmingham and in Salford, and then filming Strictly in Borehamwood, with a bit of It Takes Two in London,” she explained. “I was getting three hours’ sleep a night, trying to fit in all these things.
“All you want to do at that time is the dancing because you know you’ve got to do this thing in a few days,” she added.
When Alastair asked whether she felt Strictly had contributed to the demise of her marriage, Rachel replied: “No…
“I’m still friends with my ex-husband,” she said thoughtfully. “He’s great, he’s a brilliant guy.
“We were together since I was 19 and it wasn’t right.
“What
