Rachel Riley has reignited her feud with former Countdown host Anne Robinson with another swipe. 

The presenter, 37, said she felt when Anne, 78, presented the Channel 4 show it felt 'like a headmistress watching over us'. 

Rachel clashed with Anne during her 13-month tenure on the long-running series and says filming with new host Colin Murray 'is fun now'. 

In a big hint that The Weakest Link host sucked her joy out of the show, Rachel said she was so pleased 'we can put the rude words up on the board again'.   

'The viewing figure are the highest they've been in a decade and we get really good letters from people enjoying it,' she told the Daily Star. 

'Anne had her own style and Colin has a different one. It's fun now. We can put the rude words up on the board again.

'We haven't got a headmistress watching over us. Colin brings quite a lot of good energy. The viewers now can see it.'

Anne, who became the show's first female host when she took over from Nick Hewer in June 2021, quit last July to spend more time with her grandchildren, but admitted she barely spoke to Rachel and co-star Susie Dent off-camera.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline last month about host Colin, who she describes as a 'massive geek', Rachel said  fans have noticed the show has gone in a new direction since Anne's departure, which is more to her liking.

She said: 'The viewers have noticed that it's a different type of show now.

'Anne was a lot more headmistress style and that suits some people, and some people enjoyed it. I don't think it's any secret that I am enjoying working with Colin a lot more.

'She's been in the industry a long time and she knows what she wants so she decided to leave and good luck to her, but Countdown is not really about us, any of us could go and as long as the letters and numbers are still there… then that's what the viewers want.

'I am not under any illusion that people watch it for me… they watch it because they like to play the game so long may that continue.'

Elsewhere in the interview Rachel spoke how passionate she is about football and revealed she has picked Manchester United as the team for her two daughters Maven, three, and Noa, one, to support. 

On Tuesday, Rachel was seen leaving the Countdown studios Salford wearing a Game4Ukraine football shirt.

Chelsea will host the special match in west London in to raise funds for the reconstruction of the Mykhailo-Kotsiubynsky Lyceum in Chernihiv Oblast, a school struck by missiles.