TV Insider Reveals Why ‘Heated Rivalry’ Became a Cultural Sensation: ‘People Like Smut’
Heated Rivalry’s breakout success is no mystery, an executive involved in the production of the hit series says.
‘Heated Rivalry’ took a risk, and it paid off
The hot-and-heavy hockey romance became a bona fide phenomenon after it debuted on HBO Max in November 2025. The show follows an American named Shane (Hudson Williams) and a Russian named Ilya (Connor Storrie) who fall into a clandestine relationship while playing on opposing teams. Its success appeared to come out of left field, with many people surprised that a gay romance would resonate with so many women. (By the time the finale aired, approximately two-thirds of Heated Rivalry’s audience was female, according to The New York Times.)
Others are less shocked that Heated Rivalry – which features a sex scenes within the first 10 minutes of episode 1 – quickly developed such a fervent fandom.
“A lot of shows wouldn’t have done that,” said Justin Stockman, the vice president of content development and programming at Bell Media, which produced the show for its Crave streaming service. (HBO Max licensed the series in the U.S.) But the creative team realized they were developing “a spicy show,” he said. “People are gonna talk about it because there’s sex.”
Crave also decided to stay true to the source material. (Heated Rivalry is based on a book in the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid). They didn’t want to water down the story by introducing “a lot of straight characters.”
“If you really let it be the best version of that thing as supposed to be, then people will find their entry point because it’ll be more relatable because it feels more real,” said Stockman, who was speaking at a panel at the National Association of Television Program Executives (via Deadline).
How Crave adapted a really filthy’ romance novel for TV
Heated Rivalry doesn’t shy away from sex scenes, which has been key to its success. But the show did tone down some of the “really filthy” elements from the books.
“I wanted to go back and listen to all the books. I’m on the first book still, and I have to turn down the volume when I’m at a red light. It’s just graphic depictions of sex, and then a little bit of plot,” Stockman said. But that graphic content is a big part of the appeal.
“There’s a huge audience for it, and it’s been dismissed as smut,” he said. “But people like smut. And there’s a way to elevate it and make it into a show that will have more appeal.”
Casey Bloys, the Head of HBO Max, licensed the show just a few weeks before its scheduled premiere in Canada, after binging it in one weekend.
“I couldn’t believe it was available,” he told The New York Times. “It was a very obvious yes.”
Bloys knew the show would find an audience and figured the “hot sex” meant it would “make some noise.”
“But I did not anticipate that it would turn into the kind of the social phenomenon that it is,” he added.
Heated Rivalry is streaming on HBO Max in the U.S. and Crave in Canada.
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