Hello, good people of Earth, and welcome (hell-come?) to 2026. This holiday break was so long that bringing up the gay hockey sensation Heated Rivalry now feels almost passé, but let us recall -- the last time I was up in here I still hadn't watched the show! That didn't last long though -- it was my first binge of several over the holidays, and... well it was also my second of the holidays because I watched it through twice. Once for me, and then a second time so my boyfriend could watch. It was just as good the second time. (Your thoughts?) I'm a little surprised we're leading with star Hudson Williams this morning to be honest, just because there have been about fifty times as many photoshoots of his co-star Connor Storrie, but the luck of the draw (i.e. this was the first photoshoot I found buried in my stuff this morning) favored Hudson (shot for Timid magazine) and we're a-okay with that. So while we get ourselves settled back in the blogging seat y'all go and enjoy this full photoshoot after the jump...
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26 comments:
For me it was probably my favorite entertainment show of 2025. It was better than it had any right to be, and episodes 3, 5 and 6 had moments, beats and whole sections that live rent-free in my mind. It made me pick up the books on my Kindle and I'm reading through them, and the way that it took over the internet has sparsely been done before. I can't heap enough praise on Jacob Tierney, Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie, Francois Arnaud, Robbie G.K. and the rest of the cast and crew for giving us this phenomenon. 2026 will be an interesting year to get through to wait for season 2.
I also watched twice through once for me, once with partner. I went along almost in real time (the weird rushing of the first two put me off a little, until I realized how well it worked in setting up the short season). What a lovely show, so beautiful and gay and Canadian (also like me). Passionately in love with Jacob Tierney and our pretty hockey boys, esp Dancing Queen Connor Storrie. But Jason, how much do you love Hudson citing Luca as one he wants to work with most?
I love it and have been annoying everyone around me about watching. Episode Five from the monologue on to the fist-pumping ending is probably the most joy I’ve gotten from any entertainment in years. And then the cottage wrecked me even more with its beauty. I also love that everyone is thirsting over a thicc Asian ADHDmaxing king in the media and nobody is treating it like the revelation it is.
Overhyped TV series, IMHO!
I am obsessed with the show. I think I have watched it nine times now. It still isn’t getting old.
Conner and Hudson are great but the real reason it is so good is Jacob Tierney. His writing and direct are remarkable. It moves fast. He knew what he wanted and he did it.
He said he filmed the whole thing in 6 weeks. His budget was $600,000. I expect he will get lots of offers to do other things now.
Season two is green lighted.
It won’t be qualified to be an Emmy nominee because there is no American an involvement in it.
Is about 90% smut, Cocky Experienced Top and Shy Virgin Bottom is like 99% of gay porn plots. Awful screenplay, the performances are a bit cheesy.... I gave up after third ep.
You can tell that it was filmed in six weeks on a low budget.
I love it, did a rewatch Christmas day. Everyone in it is fantastic. I wish it had existed when I was a gay child. I hope all the gay kids out there get to see it.
Invisible Boys is far superior to this series, but since it doesn't show gay porn every five minutes, almost no one talks about it.
So screw your false support for gay-themed series.
Seriously. Four hot dudes and shitty writing become the holy grail of gay entertainment. Again.
Are you the guy from I Love LA?
I thought Heated Rivalry was okay, something to watch once in a lifetime and never see again. I definitely think people are exaggerating quite a bit by calling it the best gay series of all time.
And the acting isn't up to HBO standards; it's very soap opera-esque, I'm sorry to say. 🙃
LOL it's only available in Australia, so excuse those of us who've never heard of it.
The author of the book and Jacob Tierney definitely watch too much gay porn—WAY too much!
It feels like a long, pretentious gay porn movie from Tubi.
I can understand if people don’t like the show. People have different tastes. But what I don’t get is why someone has to make things up in order to criticize the show. This shown is definitely not “90% smut”. Yes, there is a lot of sex in the show, but I would say the sex scenes make up about 20-30% of the show, not 90%. There is so much more to the show, which is what makes it so great, in my opinion.
What starts out as purely sex between the main characters turns into a real relationship. And there are also the other storylines on the show that make it worth watching, including Ilya’s home life in Russia, Shane’s close friendship with his former girlfriend, Shane’s coming out to his parents and the secondary characters’ story of one guy asking the other to go back into the closet to stay in a relationship. All of these are important elements in the show, just as important as the “smut”.
I actually find it embarrassing that in 2025 people seem so turned off by something being horny. Yeah, and? People are horny, sex is part of our lives. Grow the fuck up.
Amen
There's nothing wrong with sex. There are series like Fellow Travelers that have sex scenes, but compared to Heatedrivarly, it's a good series... So let's not pretend that the series is better than it really is. If you take away the sex scenes, it's very bad, and people talk more about the sex scenes than anything else.
The acting is awful and the script is rubbish. The only thing you like is that the actors are hot.
I'd prefer you not tell me what I do and don't like, thanks!
I think there is a lot more to like in this show than that the “actors are hot”. In my opinion, there is a lot of great writing and great acting in the show. And I think many other people would not agree with the statements that the “acting is awful” and that “the script is rubbish”.
There are many great well-written scenes in the show that are very well acted. To give a few examples:
Shane “freaking out” when he starts to realize he has feelings for Ilya.
Shane’s girlfriend figuring out he is gay and still wanting to stay close friends.
Ilya’s monologue with Shane on the phone from Russia (in Russian).
Shane’s father walking into the cottage and then Shane’s reaction.
Shane and Ilya talking to Shane’s parents about their relationship.
To be honest, because of all the hype on social media, I gave it a try this weekend and finally watched it, and unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. I mean, it's a very basic story, but it's watchable, and the actors are hot, but they're terrible actors (except for François Arnaud), and I think they use the gay genre a bit as a fetish disguised as “representation.”
¡Sorry! 🤷🏿♂️
I don’t get this criticism either— “a fetish disguised as representation”. Many gay people have complained that there is not enough representation of gay people and gay life in movies and on TV. So now that there is a TV series that shows gay people that have not been represented before on TV (as far as I’m aware—closeted gay hockey players), the show gets criticized as having some sort of “fetish”.
I’m not sure what that even means. But, in my opinion, more representation of gay people on TV is a good thing, not any sort of “fetish”.
It's like a Ryan Murphy series set in the Riverdale universe!
You could put KJ Apa playing hockey in it and it would make perfect sense.
Obsessed. It's refreshing to see a series about gay joy with hot sex. We have never seen a series like this. I appreciated Joshie's "God's Own Country" because it ended on joy, and those 2 had hot sex as well. Connor and Hudson are absolutely brilliant. That 5th episode monologue? Obsessed. Canadian wolf bird? Obsessed. Shane's every moment in episode 6? Obsessed. I am scared for season 2 because this is a perfect series from start to finish. The elevator scene at the end of episode 1? That was the moment I knew this was going to touch your heart if you have one. The gays finally have a happy series celebrating amazing sex AND romance without the dying of it all.
“Gay Joy” meanwhile, the main actors can't even say whether they're gay or straight in real life because they would lose their chance to have a place in the Hollywood industry, which pretends to be progressive when in reality it's not. It's quite homophobic, believe me.
And the only openly bisexual actor cheated on his long-time boyfriend with a woman, and that's why they're no longer together.
You nailed it! 😂😂😂
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