'I do check out photos of me posted online': Countdown maths whizz on her internet fans and her wedding plans

'I do check out photos of me posted online': Countdown maths whizz on her internet fans and her wedding plans

When she ties the knot in front of her family and friends this summer, all eyes will be on Countdown star Rachel Riley’s wedding dress.

But her guests are unlikely to judge it in the style of some of her fans who love to log on to the internet and rate her outfits for raunchiness after each episode.

The sexy maths whizz laughs: “I am aware of some of the things about me on the internet â€" like people putting up pictures of me online every single day on something called Rachel Watch!”

The fansite promises readers an “unashamedly biased and unapologetically sexist” assessment of her dress choices.

One entry reads: “Maroon mini-dress, seen before on Wed Oct 7, too loose fitting to be exciting, hope for better tom­­orrow.”

However, another dress gets maximum marks for showing off her curves.

Rachel blushes but the 26-year-old Oxford maths graduate admits the site has helped her out on a number of occasions.

She says: “It’s not exactly a fashion website but it’s become a handy little tool for me, too, so I can see what I’ve worn and decide what looked good.

“My friends have also used it as a catalogue. I’ve said, ‘If you want to borrow a dress go on this strange site and pick one out’.

"But I take some of the comments with a pinch of salt. I’d rather be complimented on being good at my job.”

By the letters: Rachel draws out another selection

Shy and self-deprecating, Rachel often lapses into giggles which have almost landed her in trouble on the daytime Channel 4 game show.

With thousands of vowels and consonants plucked out at random, some near-the-knuckle selections are bound to appear from time to time.

And she reveals: “We’ve had some bad stuff come out.

"It’s not too often but if I’m just standing there next to the word ‘f***’ then that can’t go out â€" and that has happened to me.

“On other occasions, if I giggle as the letters come up, then it’s definitely out.

"Sometimes it just hinges on me keeping a straight face â€" although you can’t have blatant filth up there.

“There are rules for it â€" it just depends on the actual word. I remember when I was quite new a bloke came up with an eight-letter word, ‘s***face’.

“Obviously that can’t go out but it is a word, so they had to quietly alter it and give him a new word in its place and edit that one in instead.

“Then there are some words which are quite innocent but can have a different meaning these days.”

She says current host Nick Hewer is often left bemused while Rachel can’t stop giggling.

“Usually Nick doesn’t realise,” she reveals. “Sometimes he hasn’t noticed, as he’s a little bit eccentric.

"They just have to cut away from me because I’m cracking up, while Nick is oblivious.”

New man: With current host Nick Hewer

Rachel landed the coveted co-presenting role in 2009 after her mum encouraged her to respond to an ad from the show.

There had been speculation that Myleene Klass would take over from Carol Vorderman but the job went instead to unknown Rachel.

Sitting with her feet up on a sofa in a London hotel suite, where she is launching a new Zipcar rental scheme, she admits it has taken her time to adjust.

“I’ve finally come to terms with it, just about,” she says. “I’d happily describe myself as a TV presenter now.

“I hadn’t done any of it before and my skill set was very much angled towards being able to do the maths rather than speak to a camera which is pointed at me.”

She owes a huge debt to then-host Jeff Stelling, a veteran of hundreds of live football broadcasts.

“Jeff had been doing live TV for over 10 years, sometimes for six hours straight, and he’s just so professional and brilliant,” she says.

“I needed so meone like him, because I’d never even been in a television studio so he really looked after me.

“For the early shows I leaned on him a bit and picked up lots of tips.

“He knew exactly how to do it, how to have a rapport on screen.”

Former host: Rachel says Jeff was very professional

She says it’s a huge contrast to new host Nick, Alan Sugar’s right-hand man in The Apprentice.

“Nick has come from a completely different background, so it’s much more of a learning experience for him now,” she says.

“But I don’t think I’m quite at the stage where I’m offering tips!”

Cerebral and composed Nick has proved an instant hit with fans but Manchester United supporter Rachel jokes that he prefers the show’s “dictionary corner” mainstay Susie Dent.

She adds: “Nick’s just very different. Jeff and I were a lot more immature together.

“We love football and some people did complain we talked ab out football too often, where Nick is really interested in language and can’t really add up.

"He’s often like, ‘That was absolutely fantastic, Susie... now, Rachel, just do the numbers’.

“Jeff and Nick were completely different to work with â€" and I really can’t pick a favourite!”

Rachel is getting seriously excited about her August nuptials with Jamie Gilbert, a businessman she met while they were studying at Oxford.

Wedding countdown: Rachel with Jamie

She says: “We’ll have a big family do â€" I’m very excited, obviously, as it’s my wedding!”

After briefly splitting in 2009 they got engaged last year, with Jamie dropping hints as they looked at rings in a shop window in Mauritius.

Rachel â€" who announced her engagement on Countdown â€" has arranged the day so her TV family can make it.

She says: “I’m inviting Nick, Jeff and all the Countdown gang. Jeff does Soccer Saturdays so if it were on a Saturday he couldn’t come.”

She may have been on Countdown for more than three years but she laughs that some staff at Channel 4 have only recently begun to recognise her.

And she adds: “You don’t know at what stage people are going to start recognising you.

"It was a bit slow to start but recently I’ve begun to notice more people recognise me on the street.

“Now I have to glam up â€" or at least not look like a tramp, as that is when I get recognised!”

* Rachel is working with Zipcar, the UK’s leading car-sharing network, which provides access to a range of low-carbon vehicles on a pay-as-you-go basis. Visit www.zipcar.co.uk.