Rachel Riley has suggested 'Strictly Come Dancing' is "fixed".
Rachel Riley went on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013
The 'Countdown' star was voted off in week five when she took part in the 2013 series of the BBC Latin and ballroom contest and she claimed the show is "very produced", with bosses knowing from the start who they want to win and how different celebrities will be shown in the final edits.
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.”
The BBC insisted Rachel's claim was "categorically untrue".
They responded: “This claim is categorically untrue. The BBC has strict procedures and editorial guidelines in place regarding impartiality and Strictly upholds all of these.”
The 36-year-old mathematician faced criticism for her dancing on the show but she thinks one of the problems with the programme is not enough of the contestants are complete novices.
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.”
Rachel met her now-husband Pasha Kovalev when they were partnered on the programme, although they didn't get together until filming ended and she had split from her first husband, Jamie Gilbert.
But the quiz show star - who has daughters Maven, two, and Noa, six months, with the dancer - dismissed suggestions of the "'Strictly' curse".
She told the Sunday Times magazine: “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.”
After doing the show, Rachel experienced mild post-traumatic stress disorder, and she claimed it was common for stars to experience "some sort of mental misalignment" when filming ends because it is such an "intense" time.
She said: “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.”
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