Biography - Rachel Riley

Who is Rachel Riley?

Rachel Riley is the woman who has it all. From being a math genius to a successful TV presenter, she also added dancing to her list!

Sure enough, she has captured the hearts of millions of viewers! How much do we know about her? Here are facts to know her better!

Rachel Riley – Age, Parents, Siblings

Rachel Riley was born on 11 January 1986 in Rochford, Essex, England but she was raised in the Thorpe Bay area of Southend-on-Sea. Her full name is Rachel Annabelle Riley. Her father Christopher Riley is an accountant and her mother Celia Riley is a homemaker. 

She also has a younger brother named Alex Riley. There is no further information regarding her parents or siblings. Riley joined the Thorpe Hall School and later Southend High School for Girls where she obtained four As at A-Level.

Education, Ethnicity

After acing her academics, Riley joined the Oriel College, Oxford, where she studied mathematics. She graduated from the same with an honorary upper second-class honor’s degree.

Her ethnicity is multi-ethnic including English, Irish, and Ashkenazi-Jewish.

Rachel Riley – Boyfriend, Husband, Children, Divorce 

Riley was married to Jamie Gilbert. They had met when they were students at the University of Oxford. After 4 and a half years together, the couple decided to break up at the end of 2009. But soon they were back together. On 11^th January 2011, Jamie proposed to Riley which was also her 25^th birthday.

Riley and Jamie married on 11 August 2012. Although Riley considers herself a “non-religious Jew”, she followed the Jewish tradition of stamping on the glass during the wedding.

But only after 16 months together as husband and wife, Rachel Riley and Jamie Gilbert announced their separation in November 2013.

Riley is currently dating her dancer partner from Strictly Come Dancing, Pasha Kovalev since 2014. The couple has moved in together in London and Riley is even taking Russian classes.

She married her longtime boyfriend Kovalev in June 2019. With her husband, she has a child, a daughter Maven Aria Kovalev, whom they welcomed on December 15, 2019. The couple's second child, daughter Noa Kovalev, was born on November 5, 2021.

Related: TV presenter Les Dennis, the ex-husband of Amanda Holden

Rachel Riley – Career

Early Days

Initially, Rachel Riley had considered pursuing her career in the financial sector and had also completed an internship at Deutsche Bank in the City of London.

Her internship made her conscious of the male-dominated field of mathematics. In addition, she disliked the extreme behavior of city traders wearing, having to get up early, and her reluctance to travel on the early morning train commute. So she decided on a career in Television instead.

In January 2009, when she was 22 years old, she started to work at the game show Countdown as a host. Considering the fact that her educational background did not match her present job, Riley did have her doubts. But later she realized that it had changed, which worked to her advantage.

Related: Kevin McCloud hosts The Grand Designs 

TV presenter

As her popularity grew in Countdown, she began to co-present 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and The Gadget Show (2013-2014). In the 11^th season of Strictly Come Dancing, she appeared on the show with Russian professional dancer Pasha Kovalev as her partner.

Being from a Science background, Rachel Riley had always wanted to present a science program. In 2014, she shared, "I'd love to present a popular science program because it's something I feel very passionate about."

And two years later in 2016, she just got that chance! She was chosen to co-present the ITV’s series It's Not Rocket Science, along with Ben Miller and Romesh Ranganathan.

Related: BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker

Rachel Riley – Net Worth, Salary

Riley has an estimated net worth of around $5 million while the figure on her annual salary/income is not shared with the public.

Rachel Riley – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media handles including Instagram, and Twitter, Rachel Riley is active with several hundred thousand followers but is absent from Facebook.

Related: List of famous TV hosts