Rachel Riley called Strictly a ‘trauma bonding, hostage situation’ that gave her PTSD

Rachel Riley called Strictly Come Dancing a ‘hostage situation’ (Picture: BBC/Guy Levy)

Rachel Riley faced PTSD symptoms after her stint on Strictly Come Dancing as the show faces intense scrutiny over conduct.

Rachel, 38, may have fallen for her dance partner Pasha Kovalev, 44, but she compared her Strictly experience to a ‘hostage situation’ due to stage fright.

The turmoil surrounding the BBC show is said to be ‘worsening by the day’ as a third dancer was named in the unfolding internal investigation.

Everything kicked off when allegations were made by Amanda Abbington against Giovanni Pernice – which he has denied.

Months later Graziano Di Prima was dropped and later released a statement saying he ‘deeply regrets’ his actions after allegations he ‘kicked and hit’ his partner Zara McDermott.

Rachel took to the dancefloor in 2013 and on a podcast earlier this year took the opportunity to call for therapy for those involved in the long-running show.

She said the problem was with the show not her partner Pasha Kovalev (Picture: BBC)

The pair fell in love and now share children together (Picture: PA)

‘I’d never danced a step before in my life and it was absolutely terrifying,’ she said on the High Performance podcast.

The Countdown star explained: ‘You go in there on a Sunday to learn a new dance and on the Saturday you’re dancing in front of 10 million people.’

‘Then you get the judges’ comments and it would be like the end of the world. I think I was in the dance-off, which is like a dance for your life to be voted off or stay on.

‘And the next week I was on the floor doing the dance and Pasha, my partner, said “You’re not there” and said that I go and see Michael [the psychotherapist].’

While the show is where she met her now husband, Rachel struggles to re-watch her season or even new episodes.

Rachel said she suffered from PTSD after appearing on the show (Picture: Richard Young/Shutterstock)

Later on the podcast, she revealed she developed post-traumatic stress disorder from her time on the show.

‘A lot of people who have done it can relate,’ the maths whiz continued. ‘It’s like a trauma bonding, hostage situation, not with your partner but with the show.

‘You love doing it and it’s so much fun, you get all of the endorphins from the training and achieving something just being in the moment.

‘All you’re supposed to be doing is learning this dance, that’s all you’re doing, you haven’t got any distractions, you haven’t got to do the washing, check your phone, you haven’t got to do anything else. By the end of the week, you’ve achieved it and done it and you’ve got that gratification.

‘The dancing thing was quite scary and it brings up a lot of emotions. Each year Pasha would do it, I would remember what happened my week and all of the emotions and that and then the next person, I would be over empathising and each year was layers of memories and I didn’t enjoy it.’

The BBC are investigating the alleged conduct of stars (Picture: BBC/Ray Burmiston)

Rachel said it was a ‘trauma-bonding’ experience (Picture: PA)

Since the news spread that the BBC was investigating the alleged conduct of Strictly stars, it’s thought more celebrities have come forward to share their experiences.

On top of this Kai Widdrington, 28, and Nadiya Bychkova, 34, who met on the dancing show and confirmed their relationship in 2022 have split.

Nadiya clarified that she had not made a complaint to the BBC after rumours swirled following their breakup.

The BBC have since announced that they are taking drastic action to make changes to the show.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.