TV presenter Rachel Riley revealed to the Echo she is pulling out all the stops for her dancefloor debut tomorrow.

The Countdown and Gadget Show presenter from Thorpe Bay has been juggling her hectic work schedule with intense training for the show, for up to nine hours per day.

Rachel said: “It’s a pleasure to go and train every day, and it’s been so much fun.

“There are good days and bad days, and it’s very much one step forward and two steps back, but I’ve only been training for two weeks so its really gratifying to see how far I’ve come, from not being able to do one step to being able to do a mini-waltz!

“How much I train all depends on my work schedule – if I’m working, I’ll do three or four hours after work, but we did nine hours on a day off last week, so it depends.”

Rachel says dance partner, Pasha Kovalev is “patient, helpful and encouraging”.

Echo:

She said: “So many people have congratulated me on getting Pasha as a partner, it’s ridiculous! He’s amazing, he’s so supportive and positive and is always getting me smoothies and blister plasters. He’s the perfect partner.”

The couple have been focusing on ballroom dancing during training, and had their first opportunity to practice on set yesterday.

Rachel said: “We’ve just had our first performance on the actual floor, with all the lights and studio equipment around, and it took a couple of goes to settle my heartbeat.

“I think I will be nervous on the night, butalot of it is muscle memory now, so even if my mind goes blank I can still follow the steps.”

Even though she has been earmarked as one of the favourites to win the series, Rachel remains modest about her chances.

She said: “It’s really nice to have so much support,but they haven’t seen us dance yet, so I’m not telling my friends to rush out and put money on me, put it that way!”

Strictly Come Dancing begins tonight at 9pm on BBC One.

Six couples are due to dance tonight and nine couples tomorrow night, with Rachel expected to be in tomorrow’s show.