THE BBC has hit back at Countdown star Rachel Riley after she claimed Strictly Come Dancing is fixed.
Maths whizz Rachel, 36, took part in the show in 2013, partnering with pro Pasha Kovalev, 42, who she later went on to marry.
In a new interview, she claimed the scoring is easily rigged and that bosses know who they want to win from the outset.
However, a BBC spokesman said: “This claim is categorically untrue. The BBC has strict procedures and editorial guidelines in place regarding impartiality and Strictly upholds all of these.”
Rachel was eliminated in week five, with wag Abbey Clancy taking home the Glitterball.
She said: “I think they know from the start who they want to win and what journeys they want to take different people on, to have the right balance, and they can obviously fix the scores.”
READ MORE ON STRICTLY
Rachel added that the show was “very produced” and that the British public wants contestants who are beginners rather than celebs with extensive training.
Speaking to The Celeb Reportday Times Magazine, she said: “I think Brits want an underdog. We want to build someone up, not see someone who is good from the start – that’s not the heart of these programmes.”
The mum-of-two also said she suffered from a mild form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after taking part in the show.
She added: “It’s a really intense period. I had insecurities about my dancing because your whole self-worth is built around it. And you have this team mentality, then you’re suddenly dropped.
“It still carries on but you’ve been put in the bin.
“And you don’t do the exercise you were doing, so you have the loss of all the serotonin … When I was doing it, it was the best fun, then in the years that followed it was just…tricky.
“A lot of people end up with some sort of mental misalignment from it. Sophie Ellis-Bextor said that they needed to have a bit more care for contestants.
“I’m glad I’m away from it now.”
Rachel also reacted strongly to the suggestion her relationship with Russian hunk Pasha, with whom she now has two daughters Maven, 2, and six-month-old Noa, was a result of the Strictly curse.
Read More on The Celeb Report
She was married to Jamie Gilbert when she started the contest, but they split after 16 months and she started dating her pro partner.
Rachel said: “Are you calling my babies a curse? That’s not right! If you have cracks [Strictly] can expose them. It gave me the distance to make the break that was going to happen anyway.”
Did you miss our previous article...
https://thecelebreport.com/television/who-are-joe-wicks-brothers-nikki-and-george
