Countdown's Rachel Riley and her Strictly Come Dancing partner Pasha are quietly confident ahead of their first performance on Friday night. "Rachel and Pasha are getting on really well," an insider told HELLO! Online. "Pasha is travelling to Birmingham to train with Rachel, so she can fit this around her filming commitments for Countdown and The Gadget Show."
The 27-year-old TV personality will star in the ballroom dancing contest alongside other famous faces including Abbey Clancy and Vanessa Feltz.
Rachel shared this photo exclusively with HELLO! Online
Both Rachel and Pasha are approaching the competition with meticulous attention to detail. "Pasha brought in set squares and protractors to help Rachel improve her posture and to show her what angles her body needs to be in for particular moves. "He was hoping that maybe her mathematical mind will make sense of the angles," the source added.Last month, Rachel announced that she was joining Strictly using Countdown's famous letterboard, spelling out the phrase "I am on Strictly".
The Essex-born TV presenter, who studied maths at Oxford, married her university sweetheart Jamie Gilbert on 11 August 2012. Amongst those in attendance at Rachel's Suffolk ceremony was her fellow Countdown presenter Nick Hewer who exclusively told HELLO! "Of course , Rachel is one of the most beautiful women in England.When you've got brains and beauty combined, then you've hit the jackpot – at least Mr Gilbert has."
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One on Friday at 9pm.