Everyone’s obsessed with Heated Rivalry. Could it change how we see gay sex on screen?

This article contains spoilers for the series. Heated rivalry.

There are showers in the locker room. Hotel room in Montreal. Bathroom at the awards ceremony.

Boys from Heated rivalry communicate a lot – in detail that defies television, and in a variety of places.

The original Thirst, based on a Canadian book series about rival hockey players and their secret off-ice romance, caused a stir among audiences with its explicit sex scenes (as well as a heartfelt love story).

TikTok is flooded with users too obsessed with the show think about something else spicy edits heartthrobs Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, as well as brave fans watching a series with my parents.

The series stars Hudson Williams, who plays Shane, and Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya, received Matching “sex sells” tattoos celebrate your work on the production. And they seem to be absolutely right.

Thirst speaks Heated rivalry became its most-watched debut original series within the first week of its release, with the most recent episode being second highest rated television series of all time on IMDB. Also the second season of the series got the green light earlier this month.

But fans and TV critics say the show is more than just good entertainment. It resonates because it pushes the boundaries of how much kinky sex can be shown on popular television, depicting intimacy that feels real and maintaining a compelling love story while remaining incredibly intense.

Gay sex on the small screen

One of the reasons the series stands out is that it isn't shy about its depiction of gay sex. This is rare for mass production.

“Traditionally… it's a lot of innuendo, maybe a lot of fading into blackness,” said freelance culture writer David Mack. “How is that [1950s]and then people lie in bed with a cigarette or something like that.”

It does Heated rivalryHe said the scenes were “very shocking” in comparison.

For example, the first sexual intercourse occurs just 14 minutes after the first episode. Many scenes are long, some of them unfold without interruption throughout the action. That leaves little to the imagination, said Mack, who jointly reviewed Heated rivalryNaughty scenes for Slate. (He gave them a 10/10 on the excitement scale, in case you were wondering.)

“From that moment [Ilya] opens the door the moment he leaves and you're in this room with them,” Mack said of the characters' first encounter. “So it feels incredibly intimate to witness it.”

Brendan Shust, a Canadian fan who is gay himself, said he liked how show director Jacob Tierney included a wide range of intimate encounters in the show. He's been following the series with excitement since devouring Rachel Reid's books for the first time in the spring.

In particular, he says he appreciates the differences between the main characters' love story, which is sexual from the start, and Scott and Kip's, which begins with a meet-cute at a smoothie shop and then develops into a full-blown romantic relationship.

“The way they presented them in such contrast, I thought, was really interesting,” Shust said. “And I don't think [Tierney’s] I did something unreal.”

Shust said the show reminds him Strange as peopleseries from the early 2000s, considered one of the first to frankly depict gay sex life.

“I definitely think [Heated Rivalry] This will be one of those shows that will get the ball rolling.”

Going beyond the subculture

Adam Vaughan, professor of film and television at Solent University in Southampton, agreed, pointing out Word L as an example of a show that also shocked viewers at the time.

But outside of these shows, strange intimacy was often expressed in fantasy worlds – think Game of Thronesor images of group sex in Sense8 “allowing viewers to separate the weirdness from reality,” he said.

Heated rivalry also breaks stereotypes in part by bringing a strange intimacy to the highly heterogeneous world of professional hockey, says Karen Tongson, a professor of gender and sexuality studies at the University of Southern California.

“What he's doing is taking gay sex out of the gay subculture,” she said. “It's about understanding that gay sex happens far outside of these enclaves and in places you wouldn't expect, but where it definitely happens.”

The NHL has never had a publicly queer hockey player before. North America's only major men's sports league what is this true for? Luka Prokop became the first openly gay player under contract with NHL in 2021but he hasn't played in the league yet. This is in stark contrast to women's professional sports leagues, which generally more LGBTQ+ players.

First sex, then romance

Ilya and Shane's love story begins with sex and later leads to a loving relationship, not the other way around – something that happens in real life and is not always seen in such a love story, said Xtra magazine senior editor Mel Woods.

According to Woods, it's “interesting” to see that the first sex scene is a cruising moment (a way of suggesting casual sex common in the gay community).

And sex still serves the story, they said; it is romance after all. Intimate moments aren't just meant to titillate—like a fight in an action movie, the sex scenes reveal details about who the characters are and their developing feelings for each other.

“All of these scenes tell a story in the same way that any dialogue scene tells a story or any hockey scenes tell a story,” Woods said. “[Intimacy] is as integral to the plot as other aspects of these people's lives.”

While Woods doesn't like to characterize anything as a “good” or “bad” performance, they said the direction of series director Tierney, who is gay, comes through in the show's sexiest moments, even though the source material was written by a woman.

“The way these guys look at each other, the way the camera looks at them, the way their bodies are shown… you can tell it was done by a gay man.”

A place for PG and colorful weird stories

However, not all viewers found the series realistic. Actor Jordan HBO's First Man I love Los Angeles told Vulture that Heated rivalry was “just not gay” – although he has since retracted his comments and posted a video of Williams online in an attempt to show there were no hard feelings.

Still, Woods said it's important to show all kinds of queer stories on screen so audiences can find one that resonates with them — especially at a time when these stories are in danger of disappearing.

GLAAD's 2025 “Where We Are on TV” report, which annually tracks LGBTQ+ characters on television, found 489 queer characters in primetime scripted shows, but over 40 percent of these characters will not returns, either because the show was cancelled, the character leaves the show, or because the show was a limited series.

“I'm glad we live in a world where we can have [PG gay romance] Heartstopperit's an incredibly tweetable, gentle, calm, warm thing. And then we have something else that’s very spicy, hot, fiery,” Woods said. “The gay experience is broad… and it’s nice to see such a diversity of perspectives.”

Shust, a Canadian viewer, agrees. While the show is like Strange as people were innovative, the characters endured adversity in part due to their sexual orientation, job loss, physical abuse and, in the American remake, battling HIV/AIDS.

In comparison, Shust says he's happy to have “happy gay stories where we can have sex and have relationships and have a happy ending.”

“Just being able to watch gay content and know that everything will be okay—we don’t have to wait for the hammer to fall—is a big relief.”

The show's season finale premieres on Crave this Friday, December 26th.