THE family of new Countdown girl Rachel Riley can’t wait for her first appearance on the Channel 4 show.

Former Southend High School for Girls pupil Rachel has been busily preparing to replace mathematical legend Carol Vorderman. Rachel celebrates her 23rd birthday on Sunday, but will spend most of the day filming in Leeds away from her family in Acacia Drive, Thorpe Bay.

Proud mum Celia, 51, spoke to the Echo after seeing her daughter appear with co-host Jeff Stelling on ITV show This Morning.

She said: “It was lovely to see her on TV.

“We are definitely rooting for her and are all very excited. It’s a whole new world for her.

“I think she will be absolutely fantastic and will fly.

“We were extremely proud when we found out the news she had got the job.

“I was working when I heard the news and I screamed with joy. When she got into Oxford University, you can imagine what we felt like and this was the same.”

Celia and 57-year-old husband Chris, an accountant, are both avid Echo readers and were pleased to see their daughter recently feature so prominently in the paper’s pages.

And she said she has no doubt her daughter can follow in Carol’s formidable footsteps, as maths expert and letter placer.

But they but would prefer them not to be compared.

Celia said: “She has somebody quite big to follow, but I would like her to be known as Rachel Riley rather than the new Carol Vorderman.

“Carol had been doing the job for about 26 years, since before Rachel was born, but I’m sure she will be fine.”

Southend Girls headteacher Alison Clewlow said she was expecting Rachel, who has a 20-year-old brother Alex, to do well on the show.

Celia added: “Her old school just sent us a lovely letter saying they were so proud of her.

“She recently went back to see her old maths teacher. She’s a brilliant daughter to us.”

Rachel, who graduated from Oriel College, Oxford, with a masters degree in maths, fought off stiff competition from more than 1,000 hopefuls to land the job alongside Sky Sports presenter Stelling.

She will reportedly earn around £100,000 a year for the role.

Her first show will be on Monday at 3.25pm on Channel 4.