Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for “Heated Rivalry.”
The girls’ and the gays’ current obsession over book-series-turned-hit-TV show “Heated Rivalry,” a passionate closted gay enemies-to-lovers hockey romance with yearning arguments and graphic nudity, has taken pop culture by storm.
It was impossible for me not to get hooked on this journey of the top two rookie hockey players in the league falling for each other. Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams, and Ilya Rozanov, played by Connor Storrie, take years to finally admit the connection they hate they’ve made.
Audiences have been laying back and kicking their feet just from watching the players exchange eye contact. I can’t lie — I’m just as much of a sucker for competitive tension as the next person. What makes “Heated Rivalry” so compelling to watch, especially for younger audiences, is how well-casted it is. In other words, how attractive the actors are. A separate TV show could be written just for Rozanov’s butt. I know I wasn’t the only one freaking out when GQ released the photoshoot between Storrie and Williams holding up wet white T-shirts. There is finally a new sex symbol to idolize and it’s being advertised everywhere!
Although they are beautiful, their looks do not distract from the characters’ personal growth of learning to accept who they truly are. Watchers weren’t just swooning over their looks but the dialogue they spoke. Rosanov’s love confession in Russian to Hollander made my heart ache as we finally get to see this character with such a hard shell soften into vulnerability. As breakout stars, this show did a very good job displaying the talent that will take Willams and Storrie far in their careers. In a Late Night with Seth Meyers interview, Storrie admitted he had not known Russian before being casted. “I did like four-hour sessions of Russian every day for like a month and a half,” he said. Talk about dedication! I still can’t believe that the accent we all fell in love with is fake and actually the product of a month’s worth of schooling.
From the very first episode, the show is not afraid to be upfront about what these two lovers are up to every time their teams compete. Being in the same city gives them the opportunity to finally meet after sometimes weeks or months with no romantic interactions. During these extended periods, their only form of contacting each other is long distance through the fake names they’ve exchanged along with their phone numbers.
I like that this show was bold in the intimacy they decided to cover. The director Jacob Tierney decided to make the companionship just as bold and graphic as straight hookup culture in film, but the decision to keep the less realistic aspects is something to appreciate. I think not everything in fantasy should have to be explained or addressed. The world needs to learn to let go of what they think is realistic, and just let two sexy people be.
Even though on the surface Hollander and Rozanov show nothing but seething rivalry in the public eye, there is a hidden playful banter that bounces back and forth between the two. A shot that captures this dynamic beautifully shows the rivals during a regular season press interview, just after their first hotel hookup. The two rookies are tapping their feet together under the covered table, signaling that each time they answered they were teasingly trying to tick each other off. By the end of the scene they press the sides of their dress shoes together, and I read this as something equivalent to an embrace. They were no longer just a casual pair of enemies with benefits, but deep down friends with feelings for one another. The touch was so simple yet said a thousand words proving they had a spark from the get-go.
As the show’s season neared the end, all of my friends had gathered around the TV at exactly midnight. Our excitement had grown, and in our obsessed state, we were actually going to Shane Hollander’s cottage with Ilya to finally put an end to any strays of untrue hate shared between them. My mental suitcase was packed to the brim. When the enemies finally turned into lovers, I knew that this media would be famous forever. Even though “Heated Rivalry” is fiction, the story of closeted love is reality for many athletes who feel like they can’t come out due to potential social or financial blowback. On a podcast with Radio Andy, Willams said he had received messages from closeted sports players. “Hockey players, football players, basketball players… sometimes they’re just reaching out privately, through like Instagram and those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you and go. This a fun show, it’s celebratory, but also sometimes it’s just hitting people,” he said.
This show is inspiring because of the positive light it put onto coming out. Hollander’s character was not disowned by his family but accepted with open arms of love and understanding from his parents. It’s so nice to see a character be celebrated for their sexuality, when typically in past famous gay pieces of media such as “Brokeback Mountain,” we don’t get that happy ending. Even with modern pieces of media such as Will Byers in “Stranger Things,” we see he’s loved and accepted after coming out, but don’t get to see him find and live happily with true love. I do have to give credit to other shows who have done a great job of including gay characters such as “Heartstopper,” “Sex Education,” and “Overcompensating.”
The obsession with “Heated Rivalry” is not limited to just the characters Hollander and Rozanov, but continues through with the actors Williams and Storrie. They are taking the world by storm and I could not be happier. Their chemistry off-screen as individuals really captures how they are the ones that made this show so entertaining, not just the script itself. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are out and now I’m holding space for another couple defying gravity. Between Williams going face to face with Jimmy Fallon on all fours during The Tonight Show, and Storrie’s goofy childhood YouTube videos surfacing under the name “actorboy222,” I can say I am obsessed.
I pray Williams never gets media trained and Storrie’s digital background is never erased because Hollywood needs more people that act like they have a personality rather than pretending to be mysterious by shoving a Sylvia Plath book in their back pocket. I thank “Heated Rivalry” for curing my winter depression and so should you.
