Rachel Riley "The Gadget Show," although her profile was significantly boosted by her appearance as a contestant on "Strictly Come Dancing", which largely "catapulted [Riley] onto the A-list" and opened up the doors for new television roles, according to another commentator. In 2014, two years before her role on "It's Not Rocket Science", she said, "I'd love to present a popular science programme because it's something I feel very passionate about." 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
Rachel Riley and a supposed frosty relationship with Vorderman, while in return Riley is often given jokes which mock Carr's supposed desires on herself and his tax avoidance. Due to scheduling conflicts with filming for "It's Not Rocket Science", Riley was replaced by Claudia Winkleman for two episodes in series nine (broadcast 3 and 10 March 2016). Rachel is a fan of Bill Bailey, who also appears on the show. From September 2013, Riley appeared in the eleventh series of the BBC One ballroom dancing programme "Strictly Come Dancing" with professional dancing partner Pasha Kovalev. She was eliminated in week 6 of