Ex-star Rachel Riley claims the show is ‘fixed’ and BBC bosses ‘know the winner from the start’

Countdown star Rachel Riley has stated that the BBC’s Serious Come Dancing TV show is “very well produced” and bosses “fix the score”

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Seriously: Rachel Riley for great performance in 2013

Former Dance Come Dancing star Rachel Riley has claimed the BBC1 dance show has been fixed, saying the bosses knew from the start who they wanted to win.

The Countdown star, 36, entered the celebrity dance competition in 2013 and was voted in in the fifth round.

But Rachel found love with her partner Pasha Kovalev, 42, who she started dating after the series ended and she broke up with her first husband, Jamie Gilbert.

Rachel told Sunday Times Magazine of Serious: “I think from the start they knew who they wanted to win and what journey they wanted to take the others on, so there was the right balance and obviously they could fix the score. .”

Rachel went on to say that the show was “very well produced” and that the BBC audience preferred celebrity contestants with no prom experience, rather than highly trained ones.

She added: “I think the British want a weaker one. We wanted to build someone, not see someone as good from the start – that’s not the focus of these shows.”

Rachel also said she suffered from a mild form of post-traumatic stress disorder after competing on the hit show during a “really stressful period” and underwent cognitive behavioral therapy afterward.

“I was insecure about my dancing because your entire self-worth was built around it,” she said. And you have this team mentality, then you suddenly drop. It continues but you have been put in the bin.

“And you don’t do the exercise that you’re doing, so you lose all the serotonin… When I did it, it was the most fun, but in the years that followed it was just… hard.

“A lot of people end up with some sort of mental deviance from it. Sophie Ellis-Bextor says they need to be a little more attentive to the contestants. I’m glad I’ve gotten away with it now.”

Rachel also addressed the notoriously severe curse when she told about her marriage to Russian ballerina Pasha, with whom she now has two daughters, Maven, 2, and 6 month old Noa.

Rachel said: “Are you calling my kids a curse? That’s not right! If you have cracks [Strictly] can expose them. It gives me the distance to do the impending crash anyway. ”

Regarding Rachel’s corrected claim, a BBC spokesman said: “The claim is completely untrue. The BBC has strict processes and editorial guidelines regarding fairness and takes all of these seriously. “