EXCLUSIVE: Countdown presenter Rachel Riley married former Strictly Come Dancing professional Pasha Kovalev in 2019, and the couple have two daughters together
Countdown favourite Rachel Riley has opened up about her family dynamics with husband Pasha Kovalev and their two young daughters. The 39-year-old first met Pasha, 45, when they were paired together on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2013.
After a romance later blossomed between them, they went on to tie the knot in Las Vegas five years later. The couple have since become parents to two girls; Maven, five, and their youngest, Noa, who turns four this November.
In conversation with Reach PLC, Rachel discussed the familiar challenge of balancing motherhood with her career commitments. She revealed: “It’s always changing because you get into one routine, and then the kids get bigger and they do different activities.
“I’m freelance and I live in London, I film Countdown in Manchester and Pasha, sometimes he’s working in the evenings, or he’s on tour for a month or a couple of months, so it’s all a weird juggle. So yeah, we’re just playing it by ear with everything we do really.”
Though more than ten years have passed since their Strictly appearance, Rachel admits they still make time for dancing together – albeit in a far more casual setting nowadays. “[It’s] around the kitchen,” she chuckled, reports the Liverpool Echo.
With their moves seemingly approved by their daughters however, Rachel said one of them had mentioned their dance moves to teachers at school, having witnessed them in action.
Asked if they had seen her and Pasha dance on Strictly, she continued: “I think Pash might’ve showed them some when I was away, so they’ve seen bits.”
However, witnessing Pasha performing live triggered a barrage of queries from their youngest daughter.
“I took them both to his show, the little one had never seen him dance on stage, so she was just full of questions the whole time,” Rachel remembered. “[It was] question, question, question, question.”
When quizzed on whether she thinks they’ll pursue careers like hers or Pasha’s, Rachel confessed: “They do love numbers.”
The Countdown presenter went on to say that her eldest also already opts for maths over bedtime stories.
“You don’t know though what they’re going to do when they get bigger, but you just want to encourage them and, you know, support them with whatever they decide they like.”
Discussing how they manage to spend quality time together despite their busy schedules earlier this year, Pasha disclosed that they’ve incorporated squash into their routine.
“We try to do it every week, at least once a week,” the former Strictly professional explained.
“We’ve been successful so far. She loves playing, I [had] never played I.T. until I started doing it with Rachel. But it’s great exercise, it keeps you active, it keeps your heart going.
“And, it’s something you do because you love doing it. But at the same time, you get the benefits of running around and keeping active, and the muscles get engaged. Plus, she gets lots of positivity from it because she always wins.”
Catch Rachel on 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown: Best Bits on Channel 4 tonight from 10pm.
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