Words matter. These are the best Rachel Riley Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I am the type of person who just gets on with whatever life throws at you. I have a ‘do first, worry later’ kind of attitude.
When you’re out shopping, try to calculate the discount of something in the sales, or work out how much a bill in a restaurant will come to. Your brain is just like any other muscle – you have to train it to make it work faster.
Even though you picture Russians as stoic, their language is really poetic.
A review of maths teaching is a great thing, but it’s a complex issue, and often the damage is done in the very early years of education.
I take vitamin C and zinc every day to keep colds at bay. I also take calcium tablets to supplement my lack of dairy, and d-mannose, a cranberry extract thought to be good for women’s health.
I am really surprised that what I am wearing on ‘Countdown’ has got into the papers.
Before ‘Countdown,’ I’d never even met anyone who was on TV.
Maths is like learning a language: you need to learn the basics to get going, but a lot of adults go into blind panic about numbers and switch off.
I like American late-night shows, like Trevor Noah, John Oliver and Bill Maher – I’ve got them all on series link.
I was used to Essex boys growing up. Russian boys are a lot more gentlemanly and thoughtful. They will express their emotions a bit more.
To get a job in TV is just amazing.
I’ve had inquiries for things like TV show ‘Splash,’ where people go out in front of the whole nation in a bikini. But I think bikinis are just for the beach.
I’ve had the ‘Countdown’ theme-tune as my mobile phone ringtone for years.
I like a challenge. I like doing things that scare me.
I have had a problem with food intolerance since I was eight.
You sit men and women down and give them a maths test, and they will do fairly equally. Then you set up the same test, but with different people, and make them tick a box to say whether they are a man or a woman, and the women do significantly worse in the maths test than they did previously in a group set.
I’ve been a fan of ‘Countdown’ for as long as I can remember, and this is a dream job.
You can have your opinions, and you can share them with your friends, but why would you go online to tell a stranger something random about their appearance? I don’t get that.
If I find a dress I really like and it happens to be a bit short, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. The thing about going to Oxford is it does give you the confidence to be how you want to be.
We go to the banya, the Russian spa. And you go into the sauna, which is really hot, much hotter than a normal sauna, and then they beat you with branches.
I always say the side of me I show on ‘Countdown’ is the side I’d show to my gran.
It’s always flattering when you get compliments, but it’s more of a measure of who you are at the time than anything else.
I have never been graceful, never been elegant.
I cycle, especially in warm weather. If I have a meeting in town, I would rather cycle than go by car.
God, I don’t think of myself as gorgeous at all!
Some of the words that pop up on the show have had terrible connotations. But that’s the beauty of ‘Countdown.’
I’m a massive football fan, so when Ladbrokes approached me and asked me to take a look at the statistics, I jumped at the chance.
I’m really interested in male and female brains and whether female brains or male brains are better at maths.
I don’t want girls to aspire to being famous for the sake of being famous.
I like to do things where you do learn something and go on a journey, such as ‘Strictly Come Dancing.’
People can underestimate you when you’re blonde and from Essex, but it’s easy to shut that down. I used to get dumb blonde jokes when I was 18, but when I replied that I was studying maths at Oxford, it usually shut them up.
I am aware of some of the things about me on the Internet – like people putting up pictures of me online every single day on something called Rachel Watch!
I like being known for being good at maths and having a brain. If I’ve been asked to do something but it’s not relevant to me, I don’t do it. I’d feel a bit of an idiot just turning up in a dress.
Practising maths can be fun.
In school productions, I was always villager No. 7. I was never at the front of the stage dancing and never had any lines.
I’d love to present a popular science programme because it’s something I feel very passionate about.
There’s no reason for men to be better at maths than women – it’s just about our perception.
I never Google myself because that way madness lies.
I have loved ‘Countdown’ for years. I always used to watch it when I got home from school. To be actually on the programme is a big challenge.
Digital exclusion is a difficult issue for families across the whole of the U.K., including my own. I love seeing my nan, but with such a busy schedule and a long distance between us, I don’t get to see her nearly as often as I would like.
For a long time, I thought, ‘I’m not a TV presenter,’ but now I realise there’s no typical route into this business.
There is no time you should shut the doors, as there is always love out there for you.
When I was at uni, our whole college bar would gather around the quiz machine for a few games every night.
I’m really lucky to be in the TV industry and to have a regular yearly contract. That gives me security.
I’m the sort of person who has to learn something properly before I show anyone.
Winter is my favourite season for clothes because I’m happiest wearing knitted dresses, leggings, and Uggs.
More than other subjects, there’s a myth that you have to be an absolute genius to be good at maths and to enjoy it, so I think it’s less accessible for people. Even the word ‘maths’ makes people screw their face up. They do the maths face.
From my personal experience, because I’m in a relationship, on paper I would never have imagined – I’m an Essex girl, maths geek who likes football, and I’ve ended up with a Russian ballroom dancer, and I guess the things you think are important, especially when you’re younger, turn out not to be.
There’s no such thing as a ‘maths brain.’ Anyone can be numerate; it’s just a matter of confidence. There are so many opportunities to improve your skills during everyday life, doing even a little a day can make maths feel more familiar and less scary.
I think you regret the things that you don’t do more than the things you do.
I think we’ve come a long way with women’s rights, but we’ve got a long way to go.
The best thing about ‘Strictly’ is it doesn’t matter what level you start at, if you’ve never put a foot in front of the other in your life.
I am always running late for absolutely everything; my hair’s the last thing I do because I am terrible at it.
I love that once you know the basic rules of maths, you can do whatever you want with it.
I would have never dreamt in a million years I would go out with a ballroom dancer from Russia, as, when we were younger, we did not even speak the same language.
Russian is a really hard language – but I’ve got my own personal teacher. He’s been really patient.
There’s an ingrained mentality in our culture that women aren’t as good. Other places, it doesn’t exist.
Being bad at maths shouldn’t be something to brag about, and I’m glad people are waking up to this, but there’s no reason be embarrassed to look for help when it comes to numeracy.
I only applied for ‘Countdown’ as a bit of a laugh while applying for lots of other graduate jobs. I’ve had some amazing opportunities, and I’ve loved every minute.
I’d happily describe myself as a TV presenter now.