Rachel Riley has dismissed the idea that she learned to dance during her time on Strictly Come Dancing, despite marrying her professional partner Pasha Kovalev. The Countdown star appeared on the eleventh series in 2013 and was the fifth celebrity eliminated.
Speaking on the Shoot Your Shot podcast, Riley said: 'Absolutely not. No, you learn how to hang on, you don't have enough time to learn how to dance and I'd never danced.' She explained that her schedule between Essex, Manchester, and Birmingham left little time for proper training.
Riley and Kovalev began a relationship after the show and married in June 2019. They have two daughters. Kovalev left Strictly in 2018 after reaching the final with Ashley Roberts, describing it as 'the right moment' to move on.
