‘Heated Rivalry’ Has Won the Holiday Season
It’s difficult to go anywhere right now and not hear somebody talking about Heated Rivalry, the queer hockey show that has a chokehold on viewers. Based on the Game Changers series by author Rachel Reid, the show quickly took told when it premiered on HBO Max and Crave in November.
Currently, it has a 98% critic score and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The final two episodes of season one boast rare 9.9 scores on IMDB. The show is a unicorn combination of good writing, good acting, and genuine care about the material being adapted. It’s breathing on its own.
In case you aren’t already slurping up this steamy romance with a spoon, Heated Rivalry follows the years-long romance of hockey stars Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) as they grow from situationship to falling in love. If you, like me, devoured Check, Please! on Tumblr, this was made for you.
And speaking of social media, X is abuzz with discussion and memes of the show. There is no better place to get the lowdown on the show than through there. Trust me.
The success isn’t limited to its stars, either. Reid, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2023, has said that the success of the show has helped her pay for specialist help.
It also cannot be overlooked how the show handles Ilya’s bisexuality, which can often be vilified in queer romances for “not being gay enough.” At its core, Heated Rivalry is much more than what constitutes somebody as gay: It’s about acceptance, and not being afraid even when everything tells you that you should be. Despite some bad faith takes on that, the show is careful in its storytelling.
“This isn’t Heated Rivalry”
Even Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper got in on the fun on their annual New Year’s Eve special. Fueled by tequila, Cohen stated, “Of the two of us, you’re Ilya and I’m Shane” after Cooper made a comment about their gentle bickering not being Heated Rivalry.
So yes, take that as you will. God bless these two queens.
It’s refreshing and more than a bit hopeful to see queer media being embraced when so much of it has been canceled over the past two years. Though the love for one show does not negate all of that, it does prove that there is a large audience for queen television, and those who said otherwise were lying.
Williams and Storrie also deserve credit for how quickly they’ve embraced the show and its feral fans. In fact, their recent appearance reading thirst tweets on BuzzFeed only served to fan the flames, with Williams saying, “Give them to me. Make them raunchy, make them feral, make them hungry.”
Clearly, Williams is projecting, because he goes on to say “What about this back getting broken, what about some kitchen sex. Let’s bring some props in. I’m going to crawl out of there by season 2, f*cking broken and on a stretcher. We have a stretcher in season 1, but it’s for the wrong reason, next season it’s got to be Ilya f*cking ruining this shit.”
Storrie, meanwhile, blames the fans, saying, “Y’all have infected Hudson’s brain.”
We deserve this. We really do. 2025 is over, and we left it on a high note in the queer community. I am so grateful for all of the success this show has had in such a dark time in both entertainment and the world. Can season two be out already? Don’t make me wait at the cottage forever.
I’ll leave you with a parting tweet showcasing the true effect of Heated Rivalry.
(featured image: HBO Max)
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