The 32-year-old blonde bombshell joined host Jimmy Carr, 46, and a buff topless waiter for a cheeky round of spin the bottle during last week’s instalment of the post-watershed show. Rachel Riley sat down at a table with the two men while the Countdown clock ticked closer to zero and the celebrity contestants attempted to apply their brains to the task at hand. Jimmy then span the bottle, which came to a stop pointing directly at the mathematician. “Excellent,” he enthused, as Rachel seemed less pleased.
“Oh, really?” she said, before spinning the bottle once again.
When it landed on Jimmy, she pulled a face, at which point the presenter closed his eyes and puckered up ready for a smooch.
However, Rachel was one step ahead of him, picking up a small dog which was sat at her feet and holding it up to nuzzle Jimmy’s lips.
When the 8 Out of 10 Cats star opened his eyes again as the Countdown timer ended, he simply quipped: “Disappointing.”
Elsewhere, Rachel appeared to be smitten with her canine pal on the comedy game show last week.
Taking to Twitter, she shared a series of snaps with her 623,000 followers, showing her cuddling the tiny pooch.
Rachel was dressed in the same chic mint green dress she wore on the show, embellished with glittering bead detailing.
“It’s #CatsCountdown day again,” she captioned the post, informing fans: “I wore this dress so there may well be a dog.
“She’s the dog of dreams. There will also be comedy,” she added.
Rachel first shot to fame when she took over from Carol Vorderman, 58, on Countdown back in 2009.
She later joined the cast on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown when it aired for the first time as a one-off special in 2012.
The following year, the spin-off returned for its first full series, with Jimmy as host and comedians Jon Richardson, 36, and Sean Lock, 55, as team captains.
Also in 2013, Rachel took part in the 16th series Strictly Come Dancing, on which she was partnered with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev, 38.
The stunning star subsequently divorced her husband and later struck up a romance with Russian-born heartthrob Pasha.
They have been dating ever since and also live together, with Rachel even learning Russian and taking trips to her boyfriend’s home country with him.
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown continues Friday at 9pm on Channel 4.