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COUNTDOWN star Rachel Riley loves spelling out rude words on the puzzle show.

The maths whizz is celebrating 10 years on the show this October and still gets the giggles when a naughty phrase pops up.

But her colleagues Nick Hewer and Susie Dent don’t even realise it’s rude!

Recent examples have seen Rachel spell out “bumhole”, “asswipe” and “gobs***e”.

She laughs: “I think it’s the fun part of Countdown. A lot of rude words, you’d only know they were rude if you had a dirty mind. So I’ll put up a word knowing it’s filthy, and Susie and Nick won’t have the blindest clue why half the audience is laughing. That’s the fun of it – you don’t have to be serious all the time.”

One show that definitely isn’t serious is 8 Out Of 10 Cat Does Countdown, which has just been renewed for another run. Rachel, 32, admits panellists Sean Lock and Jon Richardson are much ruder than viewers see.

“Everyone on it is so funny,” she says. “They are so sharp and they know what’s beyond the pale and what’s going to be edited out. So there’s some stuff that’s just for the benefit of us and the audience which is good fun. It takes two-and-a-half hours to record and gets cut down to 47 minutes so you can imagine all the stuff that doesn’t end up making it.”

Rachel is loved-up with dancer Pasha Kovalev, her partner when she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013. And it’s clear she’s bored of being asked about the curse of Strictly, which saw her split with hubby Jamie Gilbert and start dating Pasha, 38.

Scandal

“It happened,” she says. “Everyone loves any kind of scandal and any kind of Strictly story. It’s one of the most-watched TV shows so people are going to talk about it. Things have worked out for us and we’re all happy. Things are good with Pasha and I’m still good friends with my ex.”

She’s sad to see Brendan Cole go as he got her the Strictly gig. “I love Brendan,” says Rachel. “He came on Countdown as a guest and put a word in for me to go on Strictly. He changed my life.”

Rachel supports Man United and landed a job presenting Sky’s Friday Night Football opposite Jeff Stelling but quit last year after one series, with rumours it was over online abuse. She was trolled by Spurs fans for using the term “bottle job” after a game.

Rachel says: “They headhunted me because I’m a football fan but not your typical fan. They wanted to do something a little different with Friday night and make it more entertainment-based. Most football audiences don’t like change so they’ve gone back to their standard football coverage. I didn’t feel that was where I wanted to be.”

Essex-born Rachel is also pleased Manchester United now has a professional women’s team and is delighted to see the gender pay gap being discussed. She says: “If I can get women going for more high-flying jobs and asking for more money, great. I’d rather be known for that than for what I’m wearing on Countdown.”