Countdown maths whizz Rachel Riley is trying to add up numbers to make her life work since joining The Gadget Show.
She has five Countdowns to film daily for three days, then a couple of days recording the Gadget Show plus a day for voiceovers.
And she’s trying to fit all that in with counting down the miles home to husband Jamie and their three cats.
“Things are suddenly REALLY busy,” laughs Rachel, who has just joined Channel 5’s technology show.
“The Gadget Show is filmed in Birmingham, Countdown is in Manchester and I live in Essex, so I’m all over the place at the moment.
“Jamie and I will only have been married a year next month and I am away a lot, but he’s really supportive.
“I speak to him all the time and he gives me updates on Rafa, Beasty and Becks we’re really sad cat people.”
Mad-keen Manchester United fan Rachel was left redder that her favourite team’s shirts when hero Ryan Giggs showed up to mark her milestone 1,000th episode.
“I think you can tell from my reaction that I had absolutely no idea anything was going on.
“I’d been to Sir Alex’s last home game and when they had the title-winning parade I ran all the way to Old Trafford in my tea break.
“Then, that week, Ryan came into the studio to surprise me.
No one on the team had let on!”
Gadget-mad Rachel, 27, is loving her tech-filled new role.
“It’s dangerous working on the show because every week I want to spend the money I’m earning on the stuff we’re testing,” she explains.
“I already have a robot vacuum cleaner and a robot floor washer but there are so many other things.”
Stunner Rachel has attracted a bit of flak for some of her Countdown outfits.
“I think it’s just down to being a woman,” she insists. “One person will ask where they can get it from and someone else will say it’s too tight and too revealing.
“You can’t win and you can’t please everybody all the time.”
Whatever Rachel wears she can be sure her dad will be watching.
“He records every show I’m on,” she adds. “He really is my number one fan.
“I don’t mind watching myself but I don’t think seeing my earlier shows on Countdown four years’ ago would be a pleasant experience!”
The Gadget Show, Channel 5, Monday at 8pm
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