Editor’s Note: Minor spoilers of the show “Heated Rivalry” are included in this piece.
We rang in the new year with Stephen Colbert declaring, “I’m a bossy bottom” on national television. It wouldn’t be far off to say that everyone knew what he was referencing. As Anderson Cooper put it, “Has ‘Heated Rivalry’ made everybody insane?”
Well, yes! People are watching the show and recommending it to their moms. Its prominence across different industries speaks to a larger cultural phenomenon and, possibly, collective psychosis, in a time where international conservatism takes center stage.
“Heated Rivalry” follows the story of two young men, Canada’s Shane Hollander and Russia’s Ilya Rozanov as they navigate stardom in the fictional Major League Hockey and fall into a closeted, budding romance. Director Jacob Tierney pioneered the creation of the show, which was adapted from Rachel Reid’s book series, “Game Changers.” The show is already slated for two more seasons under the Canadian streaming service Crave.
Despite its immense popularity, the show did not score a winning goal with every viewer. Some viewers miss the point and think “Heated Rivalry” is just about sex. To be fair, it has a sex scene around 18 minutes into the first episode, but it’s realistic, not romanticized. And it’s hot. It’s not hidden away or saved for the climax, though trust us, there are plenty of climaxes. Sex is simply a part of Ilya and Shane’s relationship. Besides, key pieces of the narrative can really only be told through their physical chemistry.
While some critics dislike the show’s lean into raunchy debauchery, other viewers call out the characters for being romantically toxic and take the couple out of the context of their time.
The two met in 2008 when both were in their late teens. Pop culture wasn’t as openly supportive of queer joy as it is now. Growing up gay in the early 2000s to the 2010s was shit. Language around queerness was extremely homophobic. “Gay” was an insult thrown around in the hallways and whispered in rumors that eventually led to people ostracizing you because you were, apparently, a scary lesbian. Or at least that’s how it went down for us.
Queerness was even more of a taboo in the locker rooms. Now imagine everything above, but you have thousands of people watching your every move. Even now, in 2026, there are no openly gay players under contract in the National Hockey League.
And lesbi-honest, if your entire life was riding on how long you could stay in the closet, you’d probably be apprehensive about getting into a serious gay relationship.
Shane and Ilya’s labels as individuals and as a couple, like a lot of relationships today, fell into a gray area. Plus, communication styles are different across the board, both in real life and in the show.
Shane is canonically autistic and has severe levels of anxiety — which play into his repressed communication style. Throwback to episode four, when they said each others’ first names for the first time in the middle of frottage. Shane immediately dismounted, pulled up his sweats and booked it out of Ilya’s living room shirtless.
In the same episode, he ends up with a beard, Rose Landry.
Meanwhile, Ilya struggles with intimacy due to traumatic childhood experiences and some major daddy issues. The combination of both made Ilya evasive as fuck, but a ten-year-long situationship doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. Some commitment and semblance of love is necessary for that level of torture.
In the end, they still ride off into the sunset. When their relationship sees the light, no one suddenly dies. It’s not tragic, unlike other stories — we’re looking at you, “Brokeback Mountain.” Their love isn’t unrequited, and years of yearning are put to rest. Queer people, especially those of us who relate to Shane and Ilya’s experiences, walk away from the last episode with a sense of hope.
We aren’t here to convince you to love the show or even to watch it, but its cultural impacts are undeniable and it opens doors for greater representation.
You may have heard of “A League of Their Own,” “Everything Sucks,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” “Carol” and “Dead Poets Society.” All of these queer stories have devastating endings or no endings at all. At this point, it feels like we’re beating a dead horse: Why do straight people get happy endings and gay people don’t?
We want to see ourselves on screen, in all of the possible facets of queer life that there are, with a happy ending to match.
Till then, know that “Heated Rivalry” isn’t a sign to go back to your failed situationship. But wait … is it?
