Nearly every single friend I’ve talked to in the past month has asked me one specific question: have you seen “Heated Rivalry” yet?
The answer is yes, of course.
Like most online folk, I’ve been unable to escape the hype of the wildly popular Canadian TV show. Released by Crave in November of 2025, the main plot follows the love story between professional hockey players, and pre-destined enemies on the ice, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, along with a cast of equally charming side characters.
But after every conversation filled with gushing praise and excited discussions of our favorite moments, I always seemed to be left with another question.
We know that women have long dominated online fandom circles. They are even the original architects of slash, a fanfiction genre that is entirely made up of same-sex relationships, the majority of which occur between men. Even the author of the book series “Game Changers,” on which “Heated Rivalry” is based, is a woman.
According to The New York Times, two-thirds of the show’s viewers are female. When I thought about the demographics of each friend I’d spoken to, combined with the viewership statistics and a large mass of fans I’d interacted with online, I couldn’t help but wonder — why do so many women love this show, whose sole focus is on relationships between two men?
Some will argue that this is entirely based in the fetishization of gay men. This idea is not entirely wrong or unfounded — it’s connected to a historical sense of wariness that is well deserved after everything LGBTQ+ men have been through.
When faced with a community of women that consistently consumes the sexual nature of the show, some of whom have only begun interacting with queer fandom for the first time, it can be an incredibly uncomfortable and jarring experience.
However, we must take into consideration that queer male-oriented media, especially that of “Heated Rivalry,” does something that straight romances do not. There is a vulnerability in same-sex male relationships portrayed on screen that allows a dynamic in which there is no “lesser” or inherently “submissive” female partner. These relationships are complex without the need for a woman to be reduced into a simple figure for romantic or sexual idealization.
Queer male media like “Heated Rivalry” remove the default female stand-in, and without her the relationship must negotiate power, care and desire on an equal footing. That equality is what women recognize and respond to.
And yes — with actors such as Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams at the helm, it might not be entirely surprising for such a show to become a viral sensation.
Before we make judgements, let’s try to understand why these things are consumed by the people who consume them. Instead of questioning why audiences are drawn to media like this, it might just be more revealing to ask why stories that offer this kind of intimacy and balance are so uncommon in the first place.
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