Countdown star Rachel Riley hits back at Anne Robinson's latest jibe as feud escalates
COUNTDOWN queen Rachel Riley has hit back at Anne Robinson's latest jibe accusing the former host of USING her name for attention.
Opening up for the first time about the rumoured feud maths whizz Rachel, 39, said: 'If Anne needs to mention me for publicity then good luck to her. I have the same opinion of her as most people do.'
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Speaking at the Women's Football Awards on Thursday night at London's InterContinental Park Lane Hotel in London she added: "I don't pay any attention to what she says."
It comes after Anne, 80, reignited her spat with her ex-co sta r in a scathing interview.
Speaking to the Telegraph last weekend Anne dismissed the notion of a rift but revealed tensions did exist on set and accused the blonde of being too chatty saying: "It's just a story. Rachel was a bit talkative when I was interviewing the contestants but once we shut her up it was fine."
The duo famously worked together on the Channel 4 show when Anne hosted it in 2021, but were left flooded by reports that they did not get on and were embroiled in a huge backstage feud with Anne insisting that Rachel's mic was turned off after she reportedly found her chatting to contestants "hugely distracting".
Anne, who suffers from tinnitus, eventually quit after just a year in the role.
Rachel, who has two children with former Strictly pro husband Pasha Kovalev, 45, said admitted she couldn't believe how long she'd been on the Channel 4 quiz show.
She said: "I've been doing Countdown for almost 16 years, I never even thought I'd be cast on the show so to still be doing it now is amazing. I love the job."
Rachel replaced Carol Vordman in 2009 when she was just 22.
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