Whether you’re gay or straight, Team Hollander, Team Rozanov, Team Hunter, Team Kip, or Team all of ’em (me!), it’s impossible to deny the steamy chokehold Heated Rivalry has on pop culture right now. I went into watching it expecting to enjoy the show in a purely recreational, eyes-wide-open way.
There’s a particular kind of pleasure in watching a show that knows exactly what it’s doing...and isn’t shy about it either. Heated Rivalry understands heat, yes, but it also understands rhythm, restraint, and the quieter moments that make desire feel earned. I truly did not expect to come out emotionally invested, slightly undone (mostly this).
There's much to love (read: obsess) over with this show from its breakout stars Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander) and Connor Storrie (Ilya Rozanov) to their charming costars, and the writing (adapted by Jacob Tierney from the book series by Rachel Reid) that happily edges on Hallmark-y and then offers remarkable depth.
Given the way my brain is wired, I also couldn’t help noticing the moments when characters were eating and drinking.
I’m an openly-queer food writer and cookbook author—and, yes, one of the only ones in the country—which means I’m professionally wired to notice how people eat when they’re falling in love, falling apart, or trying very hard not to do either. So while Heated Rivalry is undeniably sexy (it knows it, we know it, social media reminds us daily), what hooked me wasn’t exclusively the chemistry. It was the food moments too. The casual meals, the afterthought snacks, the drinks sipped quietly when no one’s performing for anyone else. On screen and off, there's an intimacy that exists in food and drink.
Growing up, queer desire on television was sparse and coded at best.
There was Will & Grace (stereotypes abound!) and I also had Jack on Dawson’s Creek (arguably a homophobe by today’s standards) as well as Willow and Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (their relationship is considered to be the first sustained queer relationship on network television). While the latter two mattered enormously to me as youth, neither existed in a world where queer love was allowed to be this full-bodied, this ordinary, this unapologetically adult.
We often talk about how important it is to see someone like yourself in a leadership role in order to believe you can do it too. This show does that romantically—where you feel, “ah, this could be me” or, for a 40-plus-year-old like myself, “this could have been me.”
It’s genuinely profound.
Watching a show like Heated Rivalry now feels hot, for sure — but it also feels emotional and oddly grounding for someone like me.
These are different times, and while the world can feel deeply broken on some days, a show like this makes me feel like they’re still better ones overall. And as someone who believes food is never just food, I couldn’t help but notice how often eating becomes the quiet connective tissue between many of the show’s characters.
Call it a shorthand for care, routine, vulnerability, and belonging, but these are the food moments that made Season 1 matter even more to me.
Ilya Rozanov’s water bottle: a romantic catalyst
Essential and thirst-quenching, I’m not sure a simple sip has ever felt hotter. It’s a scene worth rewinding, and I'm sure you've done just that, but it’s also one where something as basic and necessary as hydration becomes the unlikely spark for an unexpected romance between two burgeoning professional hockey players.
Now, excuse me while I go dab my forehead with some ice.
Shane Hollander and ginger ale
Heated Rivalry’s top three love affairs, ranked: Ilya and Shane, Scott and Kip, and Hollander and ginger ale.
Nothing separates a good boy from a bad boy quite like an ice-cold pop in hand at a bar or industry-adjacent event. To me, ginger ale represents Shane’s commitment to composure and professionalism at all times — a quiet signal that he’s staying in control. It’s often when he’s not sipping the bubbly beverage that the more rigid aspects of his personality begin to soften.
And while it’s not literally cans of Canada Dry he’s drinking onscreen (a classic food-prop trick — once you notice it, you’ll never unsee it), in our hearts we know exactly what it’s meant to be.
Fun fact: Canada Dry played a major role in popularizing ginger ale globally in the early 20th century, taking it from an intense (typically syrupy) "remedy" and turning it into an everyday drink.
Kip Grady’s blueberry-banana smoothie
How does a healthy drink as utilitarian as a smoothie become so sexy? By adding a banana, of course.
The energy between Scott Turner (played by François Arnaud) and Kip Grady (Robbie G. K.) is palpable from the moment they lock eyes. On paper, what a banana really adds to a smoothie is potassium, fibre, vitamin B6, and a bit of natural sweetness — but what does it add for us as viewers?
Girl.
Kip’s dropped canapés, Scott’s late-night Mexican food and a sleepover
A cater-waiter who doesn’t watch where he’s going is usually destined for a firing, but lucky for Kip, he instead tosses a tray of canapés directly onto hockey player (and smoothie-shop regular) Scott Turner. What are the odds?
Strewn canapés lead to an attempt at late-night Mexican, followed by ordering in at Scott’s lavish loft. Wait a second…did they ever actually place that delivery order? I got distracted.
Girl.
Rose Landry’s Chablis and bottoming
This scene is a quiet sleeper hit, and I think it is one of the most unexpectedly touching moments in Heated Rivalry Season 1. The sincerity and self-awareness with which Rose Landry (portrayed by Sophie Nélisse) approaches Shane Hollander about his sexuality, all over a glass of white wine, genuinely brought a tear to my eye—followed almost immediately by a good laugh after the seamless segue to bottoming.
Who knew Chablis could taste so allyship-y? (Rose knew.)
Ilya makes tuna melts
Making food for someone else is one of the clearest gestures of care, and offering comfort food in particular reads like a quiet declaration of love. True to form, Ilya plays it cool when he offers to make Shane a sandwich, though there’s no missing the gentle flex of someone already auditioning for the role of boyfriend. He's got the material, but he's not quite there yet.
All’s well that ends well: Pasta, Parm, and Shane’s parents
One of my favourite things about this series is that the threat of anyone being outed is never part of the plot. Being openly gay across different industries, and in different countries (or even regions within otherwise accepting ones) can be wildly complex, and professional sports is an arena where that tension is often amplified in mainstream media. Still, Shane and Ilya’s torrid, behind-closed-doors love affair was never going to stay private forever.
Offering one of the most touching moments of the entire first season of Heated Rivalry, a casual family dinner of spaghetti—finished with a hearty grating of Parmesan—becomes the setting for something quietly monumental. Shane’s mother (Yuna Hollander, played by Christina Chang) has a particularly special moment, Ilya makes things official, and there’s an overwhelming sense that everything is going to be okay… because they have each other. Very Lady and the Tramp spaghetti-and-meatballs levels of smitten-ness detected here.
And that Ilya shoulder shimmy though!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a blueberry-banana smoothie and a tuna melt to make.
