Rachel Riley
Presenter and Numbers Expert
The exceptional Rachel Riley is the numbers expert on Channel 4’s long-running quiz show Countdown, as well as being a resident team member on the hit Channel 4 comedy panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Rachel also presents ITV’s flagship science show It’s Not Rocket Science alongside Ben Miller and Romesh Ranganathan. A potent mix of brains and beauty, Rachel is the ideal host, facilitator, or MC for any type of corporate event, or gala dinner. She has also appeared on many BBC primetime shows: Room 101, Britain’s Brightest, Top Gear and Would I Lie To You.
BIOGRAPHY
In February 2015, Rachel co-presented EE’s live online coverage of the BAFTA red carpet, interviewing Eddie Redmayne, Mark Strong and Tom Hiddlestone, amongst others. In December 2014, she hosted Memory Slam (Watch), which saw a group of ordinary kids trained up to be memory geniuses and compete against each other in the UK Schools Memory Championships
She is an avid Manchester United fan and presented a special show for MUTV alongside Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand, as well as an exclusive live studio interview with Andy Cole. In January 2015, Rachel combined her love of football with her mathematical expertise to present a Maths of the Day segment for Football Focus (BBC One) She has also appeared as a guest on Soccer AM (Sky Sports), BBC Radio 5 Live’s Fighting Talk, talkSPORT radio and BT Sport’s Follow the Football.
Rachel put her grey matter to the test by appearing on BBC1’s Celebrity Mastermind and has also raised substantial funds for the charities she supports, by using her brainpower to win on various celebrity editions of quiz shows including 5 Minutes to a Fortune (C4), Tipping Point: Lucky Stars (ITV), Pointless Celebrities (BBC1), The Bank Job (C4), Million Pound Drop (C4) The Chase (ITV) Fifteen to One (C4) and Celebrity Squares (ITV).
Rachel has a keen interest in promoting maths and science to young people. She makes frequent school visits and has been involved in a number of national numeracy initiatives.
Brought up in Thorpe Bay, Essex, Rachel graduated from Oriel College Oxford with a degree in Mathematics, covering Quantum Theory, Fluid Mechanics and Applied Maths.
TESTIMONIALS
Rachel was brilliant and showed a genuine interest in the girls. They have been speaking very highly of her and she made a massive impression. We would definitely recommend her to anyone else who was holding a similar event. Thank you.
Rachel was an absolute dream to work with on the day – as she is every year.
Rachel was absolutely superb throughout the whole day. Extremely professional, polite and engaging and an absolute pleasure to meet her. Had nothing but good feedback from guests in the room and as host, Rachel played a big part in ensuring the day run smoothly.
The event was fantastic and, as always, Rachel was an absolute pro and so lovely to work with.
Rachel was fantastic. She was incredibly professional, enthusiastic and really engaged with the finalists and other judges…A brilliant asset to our day!
We found Rachel to be extremely professional and acted as a great facilitator to the event, with a keen knowledge and enthusiasm. She chaired the debate intelligently and acted well under pressure in what was a lively and informative evening.
Rachel was the perfect person…She completely understood the brief and used her own skills to enhance the statistics involved. Her friendly and approachable manner with the radio interviewers was exactly what was needed. Look forward to working with her again!
Just wanted to say that it was a real pleasure working with Rachel last night at Wembley. She was on the ball and followed the brief perfectly, working hard over the entire evening. Rachel was a natural on stage and added great charisma and humour to the quiz delivery. I look forward to the opportunity to work with her again hopefully in the future.
Having worked with a lot of celebrities over the years I found Rachel to be one of the best. She spent a great deal of time reading and discussing the briefing notes beforehand and made sure she fully understood what we wanted. She thoroughly embraced the project and delivered exactly what was asked. She was also an absolute delight, friendly, down to earth and utterly professional. Rachel was interviewing teachers at an awards ceremony and spent the day, completely unscripted, engaging with all sorts of personalities consistently getting the responses we needed whilst ensuring the teachers really enjoyed the experience , I can assure you this was no mean feat. I would l have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Rachel.
It was a great experience for myself and the rest of the Unpacked team to work with you in Berlin. Your insights, passion and undefeatable positive attitude were critical in the execution of Samsung’s latest product presentation…the opportunity you have as a role model, to guide youth towards science and technology, is fantastic and so important….
I just wanted to say thank you for the crucial part you played in what was an extremely successful event for us. Your style suited the day perfectly, you created a strong connection with the audience and provided a real continuity through all the various sections and speakers.
We were absolutely delighted that Rachel Riley was able to participate in our inaugural conference last week. She was the perfect host for our afternoon sessions, with a confident and natural ability to connect with the audience. In addition, her ability to build a rapport when interviewed by two of our students and the intelligent and inspiring answers that she gave to their questions made this session a highlight of the conference as a whole. Her enthusiasm for Maths is infectious, and we hope to have the opportunity to work with her again.
Rachel was the perfect host – the room absolutely loved her and everyone is buzzing about last night saying it’s the best one yet!
Rachel was outstanding. Wonderful throughout…
Rachel was fantastic. A real asset to the event and a true professional. She interacted with customers, posed for photos and chatted away to everyone; NatWest team and customers alike.
Rachel was brilliant last night. Everyone loved her and she was so accommodating to her fans at the end of the night.
She was so incredible on the night, I know the brand were really impressed!
Rachel was fantastic and everyone loved her so thanks so much. The client was very happy!