5000 serious words about Heated Rivalry

A new series we will have here at Emily Writes Weekly is our group chat roundtable, where we will discuss everything that matters and everything that doesn’t. And we will do this with my friends because I think they’re smarter and funnier than every man on TV.

OK, so I’m gonna be real, I’m doing this because I am overwhelmed and sad about the world. I wanted to talk about Heated Rivalry, but I started writing about it, and it turned into just 3,000 words of me gushing about how obsessed with the show I am and calling anyone who doesn’t like it a pretentious wanker. And I wondered if maybe I needed some balance. 

So let’s go - for context, everyone in the chat except Jodie is queer (she’s our token straight), and three out of six of us are cisgender. 

So girls, gays, and theys - Have you seen Heated Rivalry yet and if not, why the Hell not when I’ve been telling you to watch it every day for over a month.

Jodie, 52: I’ve seen it! And I’ve rewatched it many times (I haven’t counted and I’m a bit scared to figure it out…). And I’ve consumed far too much of the information on social media about the show and the actors. Basically, I’m obsessed and I can’t stop. 😩

Becka, 44: I have not, but I am starting it as we speak! I was not initially drawn to it despite a newly discovered women’s hockey obsession, not totally sure why. I’m not a fanfic or smut reader (no prudish objections it’s just my first and only foray was learning the term slash fic in early internet days, only to look it up and find Kirk/Spok stuff with an absolutely horrendous description of Spok’s dick and I never went back).

Tam, 41: I had to delay watching it until I had finished a big project because I knew that if I didn’t, it might take over my brain and I’d lose the ability to think about anything else. In the end, I was pleased that I did because it meant I could binge the whole lot and not have to wait, frothing in various places, for weekly releases. 

Jodie - you’re particularly obsessed - like me - are you surprised by how taken you are with the show? Like, I feel like I need a lobotomy.

Jodie: I’m so surprised by how obsessed I am with the show. I’ve never been in this level of fandom before, and it’s weird. I had read the books already but my obsession is such that I’ve re-read Heated Rivalry and The Long Game, and then I discovered the Empty Netters podcast doing reviews of the show, and I’ve listened to every review episode twice (I’ve never listened to any podcast episode more than once before) AND I watched episode six alongside their live viewing of episode six. Also twice. Plus all of the social media I’m consuming, including detailed breakdowns of every scene in the show (which incidentally, has given me a newfound appreciation for how TV shows and movies are made) and listening to the soundtrack. Safe to say I also feel like I need a lobotomy. 

Tam: To be honest, there is an oddness to watching Heated Rivalry and the reason for it is this: I’m not used to getting what I want. Like, what do you mean the relationship isn’t subtext? What do you mean there aren’t any fade-to-black or cuts away from the sex? You mean I don’t have to read between the lines???? 

Now I know that there have been Gay TV Shows before. But Heated Rivalry is different because it doesn’t feel like a show that is made for a niche audience. It feels like a show about a queer experience that was nevertheless engaging for a wide viewership. 

What I am particularly surprised about is that it managed to tell The Coming Out Story not just once but twice, in engaging ways, without feeling like yet another dutiful, joyless show that focuses too much on queer representation and not enough on queer joy. 

Vee - you write smut - do you think going into watching it that made any difference?

Vee, 39: Coming from a deep fanfic background, it did feel extremely familiar in terms of how the story was constructed, the tropes and even the sex scenes. It was particularly obvious with the Skip storyline, which I didn’t love. 

I feel like I need to temper that by saying that fanfic can be really good - I’ve read fic that was absolutely as good as published fiction - but there’s a catch-22 a lot of the time in that what makes fanfic good is that the author engages with and embeds the story believably in the already-established universe, and writes the characters in a way that feels authentic to their existing on-screen characterisation. That makes it very hard to convert a good fanfic to an original novel. But if someone has written something mediocre and blandly characterised, where the two main characters could be any generically attractive white dudes, and especially if you’ve already switched the setting so they work in a florist and tattoo studio or a coffee shop or whatever, it’s a lot easier to file off the character names and publish it as original.

So with that in mind, the series definitely started out as fanfic in some form. Unfortunately that was not a positive for me because it ticked so many of those generic fanfic boxes. Of course, Kip wants to go to grad school. Of course, he has a female best friend whose role is just to show up and look knowingly at him. It was quite bizarre to see fanfic stylisms make it into TV like this. But at the same time, despite feeling irked by that, it sort of made me insane anyway. And now I’m worried about making Em distraught with my criticism, so I feel compelled to say: the Shane/Ilya storyline was so much better and hotter, the choices made in adaptation and direction were top-notch, Jacob Tierney did a fantastic job. The show definitely grew on me.

Tam: I have a deep relationship with fanfic - I started reading it almost thirty years ago (the fandoms were Spice Girls and Hanson). As such, I suspect that I’m more aware of the tropes and patterns that “regurgitated” media rely on than the general population. Like Vee, I need to make it clear that my use of “regurgitated” is not a criticism. I have read hundreds of different stories about the same characters falling in love and fucking because it is incredibly fun to read hundreds of different stories about the same characters falling in love and fucking. 

What makes Heated Rivalry so interesting from that metatextual point of view is how the two different creators (Rachel Reid and then Jacob Tierney) approached the use of classic fanfic tropes and story-telling conventions. What this TV show demonstrates is that ALL ART IS REFERENTIAL AND THAT IS A GOOD THING ACTUALLY.

Let’s say that (hypothetically) the first book Game Changers was fanfic of something. The book ticks off a bunch of classic fanfic tropes: it’s an alternate universe where the characters meet in a hospitality business. There’s a supportive female bff, the money-is-no-object boyfriend, and a level of U-Hauling that puts lesbians to shame. It’s a relationship progression that would be horrifically toxic and controlling in real life, but is so much fun to read about. Stories like this are like fairy tales for grown-ups.

Why I will defend Rachel Reid till I die is because what she did then was take her “I’m just borrowing other people’s dolls” story and build on it to make it her own. That’s why the second book is better, and I think that’s why it is Ilya who keeps popping up in the later books. Ilya and Shane are the characters that are truly hers, and it’s through them that she starts building her own universe.

A less competent showrunner would have elevated Scott and Kip to Main Characters and allowed their relationship to shape the show’s structure, given the centrality of their Big Coming Out Moment. But that moment, while cathartic, is not the usual queer experience, nor is it actually particularly interesting, and this is where the genius of Jacob Tierney really shows through. 

Because that moment is necessary for Shane and Ilya (and the audience) to react to, he restricts the most flawed part of the story to a single episode to give the audience context. This allows him to dedicate the rest of the episodes to making us care about Shane and Ilya. Then, through them, we get to experience the relief of watching someone else, an older person who we respect, be the trailblazer. 

Most of us don’t have a Big Coming Out moment (and thank god for that). Queer existence is usually a series of small coming-out moments that slowly build up to societal acceptance. Teasing out who is safe to come out to and how is the real queer experience. That’s what Rachel wrote about in her later books, and that’s the story Jacob focuses on telling. 

So - I’ve never felt this way about a show before, because a show like this has never been created before, even though its many sources of inspiration have been around for a long time.

I feel like the Heated Rivalry fandom turned feral, and I’m scared - is that a normal thing for fandoms? I’ve never been in one?!? Why are they treating these grown men like they’re children? Why are they so obsessed with what HudCon (their ship name) do in their private lives? Also, why did I spend 30 minutes today thinking that I haven’t seen enough new Hudson pics today? Why am I calling them Connor and Hudson like I know them? What’s wrong with me, and am I going to get better?

Vee: This is absolutely what fandom does, for good and bad. I’m surprised you haven’t found the Hudson/Connor RPF [real person fanfiction] tag on AO3 yet. It does feel different, though in the sense that it can be extremely awkward and uncomfortable when actors/creators get too involved in the fandom, especially with reading or engaging with fanfic. Historically, there’s an expectation that you don’t cross the fourth wall too much either way - don’t send unhinged fanfic to the actors and don’t let actors or creators read it. But Hudson and Connor are just out here in PR interviews fucking talking about omegaverse in a way that doesn’t shame fandom or fanfic. Is it weird for them? It must be? But Hudson is just out of the gate like “yeah I’m feminine and breedable baby, knock me up.” You beautiful little freak, never change.

Jodie: I feel this weird protectiveness for the actors, like I know them personally. And I’m so happy that they are obviously going to be super successful now because they are all talented, but again, in a weird way, like I know them. Jodie, you do not know these men!

I see a lot of fans saying that they aren’t comfortable with the level of success, as it’s too fast, which is weird. This must be their dream. Why wouldn’t you want them to live their dreams? Assume they have good people around them to help them navigate things! 

Vee: There is a subset of fans in every single fandom who infantilise actors to such an insane degree, especially if they’re queer, and it is so weird and gross. They are not your poor little meow meows, they’re adult men.

Jodie: As the days go along, I’m seeing this more and more, and it’s really creepy.

Tam: The intrusion by fans into artists' lives is harmful to their creative process. Expecting someone to create on demand does not allow for true inspiration. On the flipside, once art exists, people are free to react to it and play with it however they like, and an artist ought not to try to influence that reaction, no matter how much they want to (Looking at you, Anne Rice). People need space to explore their reactions to art, so they can find their own inspiration to create.

So while I love Original Media AND Fandom, I think that the separation of Church and State, so to speak, is important for people to remain healthy and for art to feel genuine. 

If there’s one thing this show has taught me it's that 1) I would easily fall into a cult if it involved hot people banging 2) everyone loves that Mary Oliver poem about how "If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it" but they apparently don't support it when it comes to GAY HOCKEY ROMANCE TV. When I see criticism about the show I feel like a rabid dog. That’s not normal is it? Why can’t we have nice things?

Jodie: When I see criticism, I assume the person is secretly on their 20th rewatch and is too embarrassed to just admit it. I think a lot of people secretly consume smut but would never admit it, as it’s not what you ‘should’ enjoy or it’s not seen as ‘intellectual’. I’m sure there are people who genuinely don’t like it, and that’s fine, but the really loud ones I don’t believe and think they are secretly loving it.

Tam: There are so many layers to the distaste that people exhibit towards smut and especially gay smut and especially gay smut that has a connection to fanfiction, but most of those layers are just misogyny. Misogyny towards fandom because it’s dominated by women, misogyny towards The Gays because wanting to fuck a man must mean you want to be a woman, and misogyny towards smut-readers because women aren’t supposed to enjoy sex. There’s also so much classism inherent in critiques like that because it’s all about High Art vs Low Art, as if people haven’t been painting pictures of pretty titties since time immemorial. 

Yes! Classism! I do wonder if a small part of why I love the show is that pretentious people hate it. That’s why I loved Tarzan and why, when I wrote film reviews, it was fun to give actually fun films 8 million stars. I maintain that the biggest problem with so many film reviewers is that they want to sound smart all the time. And it'd be the biggest sin to admit you actually enjoy a show about cute guys kissing. A recent review in The Guardian had an excellent internalised misogyny/'I'm not like other girls' line ".... there is only just enough of all the other stuff you need to make a good, rewarding story there. Maybe wine moms are too drunk to care?". When I read things like that, I honestly just feel so validated in my TV choices. I don't ever want to think like that...How bleak!

Let’s talk about the female gaze. Men incorrectly think the female gaze is like Wolverine stretching his pecs or whatever. Actually, the female gaze is the close-up of Ilya's neck sweat after his workout, and the lighting in the Las Vegas hotel scene. Also, men whimpering is 'female gaze'. Also, this is the only time I'll say female lol. Thoughts? Feelings?

Jodie:  As well as what you’ve said, I’m very into yearning.

Tam: I’m not a big fan of “the female gaze” as a concept because it just feels like a reactive ‘rebalancing of the scales’ where the “Female Gaze” tries to sit in opposition to the “Male Gaze”. 

The concept of the “male gaze” was coined to describe the influence of the patriarchy on the creation of art and so, given that the patriarchy is an inherently unbalanced expression of power, I’m not sure that the “Female Gaze” can really exist while the patriarchy functions. 

HOWEVER if you’re asking if I enjoy consuming art that doesn’t play into male power fantasies and instead focuses on sensuality and eroticism, hell yes, I love it. It’s a breath of fresh fucking air! 

Is it OK for women to be turned on by gay men having sex? As someone who has always been into this…genre…I hope so. I feel like there’s a reason why it turns women on…The way straight (?) cisgender women are depicted sexually in TV shows is so unrealistic and takes you out of the moment. We have been begging for hot TV where women don’t have multiple orgasms just by getting fingered in a carriage (though I will watch that). My theory is not really knowing the ins and outs (heeeyoo) of sex between two men is a brain break for some folks who don't have the same bits and bobs. It's not an experience women watching can have, so your brain doesn't get carried away with 'how did she get off so quickly?'. But is this objectification? And do we have to care?

Jodie: I think it’s ok to be turned on by whatever turns you on and I don’t care if people think it’s weird that I enjoy reading gay smut. Although if I’m being completely honest, there are people I would never willingly discuss it with, but more because dealing with their judgment and annoying ‘joking’ about it makes me feel tired. I also agree with your theory, I have no experience of how gay sex is between two men so my brain doesn’t take me out of the book/show to be like ‘well that would never happen’. 

Vee: I mean, I’m not a straight woman so I’m theorising a bit here but let me cook - straight women are attracted to men, right? So watching a man have sex is probably going to be hot for someone attracted to men. 

Jodie: You’re right, that makes sense. There’s definitely that but also maybe, in general, men get turned on faster and can orgasm faster, so I’m more willing to believe depictions of gay sex than with a woman cuming after 20 seconds of being fingered in a carriage.

Tam: I take a very expansive view when it comes to attraction and sexiness. Trying to “gatekeep” attraction is a level of navel-gazing that is pointless and irritating. People are gonna like who they like, and shaming people for it is homophobic.

I’d like to refer the audience to the 2001 movie, Kissing Jessica Stein. In that movie, there is a scene where the two main characters (queer women) are accosted by two straight men in a bar. Our heroines end up asking the men why they are so fascinated by two women having sex. The men reply that “One woman is sexy, but two… two is like… double sexy.”

Now these men are played as total meatheads and the scene is making fun of them, but there is still a truth there! Maybe attraction doesn’t need to be deeper than “double sexy”! 

As to the realism of the sex, if I wanted realism I would be watching amateur porn in all its sticky bad-angled realness. Gimme me my fantastic unrealistic gay sex.

Do you think this show will lead to straight women being better allies to queer men? 

Jodie: I hope so. I see how many women are loving the women in the show and how they are depicted, so I really hope that they take what they like about these women into their own lives and be better allies. 

Vee: I am so sorry to be a hater in my response but I don’t have high hopes on this given the number of women I’ve seen on social media talking about going to gay bars “to watch the boys kissing”. Don’t be a freak, Jesus Christ.

Jodie: Oh no, really? Yikes. 

Vee: yeah and it’s such a disappointment especially because I really appreciated how the show handled the Rose Landry storyline. I was so braced for it to be a shitshow of How Dare You Betray Me And Use Me As A Beard (or worse, Rose reacting in an outright homophobic way about Shane not being that sexually into her) and then instead it was just so kind and empathetic in a way that felt really lovely. Plus “I’d rather be the hole than the peg” was truly hilarious.

Jodie: Yeah that was a great line and it’s from the book. Back to the allies thing, unfortunately, the feral people are getting louder and my hope for straight women being better allies is fading fast (not that I know the orientation of these feral people) as they seem to all be bullying the openly queer actor.

Tam: I think that any successful widely-consumed queer storytelling will result in straight people being better allies to the queers. However, unfortunately, I think that this is a generational project. Heated Rivalry came out in 2025 and couldn’t have existed 20 years ago, and the queer media created in 2005 couldn’t have existed in 1995 and so on. Progress is being made and, even though it’s slow, it’s important to cherish that. 

One of my favourite bittersweet trends on tiktok has been people posting a slideshow where the first picture is of them as an adult with the caption “Who watched Heated Rivalry” and successive pictures are of themselves as children playing sports, with the caption “Who really watched Heated Rivalry.” Heated Rivalry didn’t exist then, but it exists now. I am so pleased for queer teens in 2026 that that’s the case.

Not to be an insufferable bisexual, but I’m getting so tired of people saying the author of the Game Changers series is straight. Or that Hudson Williams is straight because he once had a girlfriend (I know I am not allowed to say it, but that is a bisexual man if ever there was a bisexual man). The ‘written for straight women by straight women’ thing that keeps being said online is really pissing me off. Should I stop being so precious?

Jodie: I think it’s funny that people are jumping onto ‘oh, he has a girlfriend, so he must be straight’ when they’re obsessed fans of a show with a main character who is bisexual. Like come on, use your brains people… But even if it is a book written by a straight woman for straight women, does it matter? Either way, people of all sexualities are obviously enjoying it. I personally don’t think it is, but is that just people dismissing the fact that women enjoy reading romance? Probably.

Also, side note, I did ask Em the other day why she thought they don’t use the term bisexual in the show. They use “likes both” and “not completely gay”. I’m fairly sure they say bisexual in the book, they definitely do in The Long Game…

Vee: when the show’s director was asked about casting gay people for gay roles he pointed out very bluntly that it would be illegal to ask that question during the casting process. I understand the desire to have own-voice representation but I’m never going to demand that a young actor comes out given the shitshow that Hollywood still is for queer actors. 

As to whether it’s written “for straight women by straight women…” well, the lives of these characters don’t look much at all like the lives of my gay male friends, but my friends aren’t pro athletes! There is obviously a major element of fantasy here! I don’t watch TV expecting to see my real experience represented, I watch it because it’s hot and fun.

Tam: Ah, the inevitable requirement of endlessly coming out, my least favourite queer experience! This is the heteronormativity of it all: unless someone explicitly and constantly asserts their queerness, straight people will insist on reading them as straight and sanctioning those of us who have eyes and therefore know better. 

As to the people parroting this “For straight women by straight women” nonsense, I read it as an example of how even queers sometimes foist heteronormativity onto other queers. They’re blind to how RR’s experience of queerness shapes her queer storytelling.

I genuinely believe people are being contrary for the sake of it when they say Williams and Storrie are not good actors. Russian people didn't know Storrie was from Texas not Russia. Williams has earned unending praise from autistic people who finally have some representation that isn't some neurotypical wank flapping their hands and being a prick and calling that autism. That scene where Shane is watching Ilya win the cup and he hasn't talked to him for so long, and he misses him and he has that little lip tremble and he smiles? Be so fucking for real. Oh, I don’t know if I have a question here.

Jodie: I think both of them are incredible actors in very different ways, and I’m excited to see what they can do in other projects going forward. My blind love of this show is also why I don’t comment on anything online; I don’t have any desire to get into fights with people on the internet… I do have to also say how amazingly the show was created; every choice is very intentional. Maybe this is standard, and I’ve just never been so invested before, so never consumed so much information about it, but Jacob Tierney is amazing.

Tam: All art is art and can be enjoyed in different contexts! High Art and Low Art are classist constructs! Stepping out from expected consumption dynamics and asserting that ‘bad’ art is Good Actually is a very queer thing to do, and long may it continue!

Here’s a controversial one: I often see critiques that other queer media is better and that we should focus on them. I feel like I’ve read, watched, consumed, and suffered through so much queer media. I mean, I imported DVDs of The L Word and hid them under my bed! And I'm sorry, but it's so joyless. It's so bleak. I have been waiting for a queer show that is actually fun and horny instead of the worst thing you've ever seen, but you still watch six seasons of it, and then you watch three seasons of the spinoff, which is 28 episodes...I am looking at you, The L Word. Please, are we not allowed a break from heartbreak and relentless homophobia?

Jodie: I love this show and this genre of books because it’s queer joy. The genre is literally HEA (happily ever after). So much queer media is bleak, and it’s so refreshing to see queer people living happy lives where nothing terrible happens to them. I felt the same about Schitts Creek, it doesn’t have the horny aspect obviously, but it has queer characters living their lives and being happy without tragedy. As the token straight in our group, I am overrepresented in media and people having happy endings. Give me more queer joy, please!

Vee: Yeah there is so much joyful trash for the straights that we deserve parity. Did I love Portrait of a Lady on Fire? Obviously, yes, I go to the cinema. But I’m so fucking tired of the gay tragedy as a genre. I mean, remember when we got Happiest Season, and we all thought, yay, finally we get a cute lesbian Christmas movie with KStew, and then it was just THE FUCKING WORST wall-to-wall queer closeted bullshit? Sorry, but no thanks, I’m good.

Tam: I’M SO BORED WITH MISERY. Queer misery, straight misery, it’s all boring and shit. This is a miserable world, and we are allowed a bit of escapism as a treat. If you focus too much on Representation, you end up with a whole lot of boxes ticked but nothing of substance. 

I don’t want one show to give me everything because that’s impossible! Give me high-brow subtleties and low-budget trash and escapist romance and everything else under the sun. 

OK, I think we covered a lot. Let’s end with a final question - are you Team Hollanov or Team Skip. I mean, surely not Team Skip - who says I love you after boning once and then moves in together that quickly? 

Jodie: Obviously, Team Hollanov, but I do have to say Francois Arnaud is so incredibly hot. And way more age-appropriate for me to feel horny about. 

Vee: I’ve already wrinkled my nose once at Team Skip, but I’ll say it again: it’s weird and boring. And does nobody else ever come in to buy a smoothie? Like, what is the profitability of this smoothie shop? Francois Arnaud IS so hot, though, like my god. But Connor Storrie in silver budgie smugglers is short-circuiting my whole brain. 

For me it’s actually Hudson Williams. But also, it’s Ilya over Shane and Hudson over Connor in terms of sex appeal which you know…shows they are good actors??? Maybe the best there ever was?

Tam: Hollanov, always. 

Always. Always. Always.

If you somehow have not had enough Heated Rivalry yet, here is even more Heated Rivalry!

I left my husband because of Heated Rivalry

The spicy TV series Heated Rivalry has been a global phenomenon. Based on the Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid, the first season, directed by Jacob Tierney has broken records and broken (and mended) hearts. The series stars Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov,

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