Heated Rivalry: Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie – Photo: Sabrina Lantos
The new HBO series Heated Rivalry has ignited social media, with fans openly thirsting after its leads and critics debating the show’s authenticity.
Based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels, the series follows two elite rival hockey players, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose off-ice tension turns into a sexual, quasi-romantic relationship.
The hockey drama wastes no time diving into the rivals’ intense lust for each other. Some viewers were surprised to see the usual slow-burn trope swapped for an immediate blaze.
“15 minutes into heated rivalry and i’m just – WHY WE MOVING SO FAST,” posted one viewer on X.
Beyond the sex, the cat-and-mouse dynamic of their athletic rivalry, the messy budding situationship, and the internal struggles each man faces has many viewers intrigued.
“The more Ilya feels the less he talks. My traumatized slavic king :(” wrote a TikTok user.
“FINE. I’m invested in Heated Rivalry. Not because of the giant bouncy bubble butts, but because as a true yearner I’m a sucker for a good romance,” wrote another.
Not everyone is praising the show. Some critics argue that LGBTQ roles should be played by LGBTQ actors, noting that neither Storrie nor Williams have publicly discussed their sexualities.
“if they’re [Storrie and Williams] both actually straight, this once again puts [us] as the fucking idiots,” one user bluntly wrote.
if they’re both actually straight, this once again puts as as the fucking idiots. we consume anything with muscles and it’s actually so fucking stupid. https://t.co/dZ41aSKtyX
Series director Jacob Tierney, who is gay, quickly pushed back on speculation about the actors’ sexualities.
Tierney even stepped in during a question from Xtra about queer actors playing queer roles that was directed at Storrie.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to get into that stuff,” he told the LGBTQ magazine. “They came into this being like, ‘Yeah, we’re here to do this, and we are here to make this story feel authentic and to be as real as possible.’ And they fucking hit it out of the park.”
Regardless of the discourse, Heated Rivalry is a hit: it ranked as HBO Max’s second-most-watched series in the United States on November 29.
Organizers of the "MAGA Invasion" meetup at Disneyland in Anaheim, California appear to have picked a date that coincides with "Mini Gay Days," an LGBTQ fan event, setting the stage for potential confrontations.
On November 19, a Southern California conservative group called 805 Patriots -- which also operates a Facebook page under the name "SoCal Patriots" -- announced a meetup of "like-minded patriots" at Disneyland as part of an unsanctioned event planned for February 28, 2026.
One organizer said the purpose of the "Patriots in the Park" event is to "go have some fun by triggering as many liberals as possible" at Disneyland.
Treading well-worn queer cinema ground, Petersen Vargas' Some Nights I Feel Like Walking follows a tight-knit crew of young gay male hustlers working the streets of their own private Manila after dark.
Vargas sends the handheld camera roving behind the merry band of Uno (Jomari Angeles), Bay (Argel Saycon), Rush (Tommy Alejandrino), and Ge (Gold Aceron) on their nightly rounds in the city's margins. Peering over their shoulders as they cruise for clients in the bustling red light district, in public restrooms, inside an adult movie theater, the film smoothly maps out the guys' treacherous territory.
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