** This article contains spoilers to the television series, “Heated Rivalry.” This article includes adult language, viewer discretion is advised.
Sex is one of many words that can be used to describe the six-episode series that everyone has been talking about. Yet, “Heated Rivalry” is more than your average slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers or LGBTQ+ romance story.
Based on the popular novel published in 2019 by Rachel Reid, the TV adaptation follows two closeted hockey players through a whirlwind relationship spanning across a decade. Produced by the Canadian network Crave and released in late November 2025, the series captivated the hearts and “For You” pages of viewers worldwide. Social media platforms steamrolled a fanbase who are utterly obsessed with the series, which can be streamed on HBO Max.
While the story may hook its audience with steamy scenes, it lends much deeper. To adoring fans (myself included), the love story of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov shines a ray of hope in a time when the world feels bleak and broken. A time when, as a society, we seem to have lost the value of loving one another.
“Heated Rivalry” reminds viewers of the power those three little words, “I love you,” can hold. The series highlights how love can transform not only one’s personal fulfillment, but spark societal change.
“Heated Rivalry”addresses the toxic masculinity and heteronormativity are often incubated in competitive male sports. The show presents scenes reflecting how locker room talk and microaggressions perpetuate harmful heterosexual standards among male athletes.
While challenging the stifling power of this discourse, prevalent in culturally “masculine” sports such as hockey, the narrative offers positive representations of coming out in athletic spaces.
The series has already become a catalyst for change and inspired athletes such as former hockey player Jesse Kortuem to publicly come out.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Kortuem wrote, “I am a private person. Those who know me best know that I don’t share much if anything publicly on social media, but lately, something has sparked in me (ok — yes credit to #HeatedRivalry). I realized it is finally time to share a journey I have kept close to the vest for a long time.”
Kortuem also reflected on how a lack of positive representations of gay athletes in media during his adolescence contributed to his lack of confidence in sharing this facet of his identity.
After watching the series myself, I believe Director Jacob Tierney has delivered what many viewers have been secretly yearning for — a happy ending. The romance of Hollander and Rozanov celebrates LGBTQ+ representation while urging a dismantle of toxic masculinity in athletics beyond the screen.
Heated Rivalry is more than steamy sex scenes. It’s a story of embracing identity and challenging homophobic societal standards — something that stays with viewers long after the credits end.