Countdown star Rachel Riley opened up about falling for her now husband, Pasha Kovalev, last week.
Rachel and Pasha danced together on Strictly back in 2013.
Countdown star Rachel Riley on Pasha romance
Back in 2013, Rachel, 38, signed up for Strictly Come Dancing. She was paired up with Pasha, and together they made it all the way to Halloween week before being eliminated.
They were the fifth couple to be booted off the show.
However, their journey together didn’t end there, as soon after, they began dating.
11 years on and the couple have got married and welcomed two daughters.
Last week, during an appearance on This Morning to celebrate 20 years of Strictly, Rachel spoke about falling for Pasha during her time on the show.
The conversation was sparked when Cat Deeley asked about dancers and their celeb partners falling for each other while dancing together.
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Countdown star Rachel Riley on ‘relinquishing control’ to Pasha
Rachel opened up about her experience falling for Pasha.
“For me, with Pasha, it was the first time I relinquished any control,” she said.
“I’m used to being the woman and being in control of things, and it was the first time ‘He’s the boss and you have to listen to him’,” she then continued.
“And obviously, you get to know someone on a far closer level than you would otherwise,” she then said.
She then said how due to her job, she was travelling a lot, meaning Pasha had to follow her to get practice in.
“It’s a strange bonding experience that you just wouldn’t get in real life,” she said. “It’s an artificial reliance on each other.”
Rachel on therapy after Strictly
Back in 2014, Rachel revealed that she’d had to undergo therapy following her time on Strictly. She made the confession during an interview with The Guardian.
“I like doing different things. So, from doing Strictly I learned that I was a perfectionist. I got stage fright and actually had CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy],” she said at the time.
“The guy was brilliant: I didn’t realise I was a perfectionist, because I didn’t want things to be perfect and thought that’s what a perfectionist was. But it’s more that you are never satisfied with yourself,” she then continued.
“In my head I was never going to be able to achieve what I wanted to achieve, because I was never going to be perfect. So it’s just learning to have an achievable goal, a sense of what is a good outcome, because otherwise you are never satisfied,” she then added.
Countdown airs on weekdays from 2.10pm on Channel 4. Rachel’s on 8 Out of 10 Cats do Countdown tonight (August 2) at 9pm on Channel 4.
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