In late December 2025, it seemed like everyone went to " the cottage ." This is a reference to the steamy Crave megahit Heated Rivalry. Even The Guggenheim Museum of New York and Ottawa Tourism has jumped on the Heated Rivalry bandwagon.
Authors
- Daphne Rena Idiz
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Arts, Culture and Media, University of Toronto
- Claudia Sicondolfo
Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Arts, Culture and Media, University of Toronto
- MaryElizabeth Luka
Associate Professor, Arts & Media Management, University of Toronto
Heated Rivalry has launched the careers of Texas native Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, from British Columbia . The actors play hockey rivals-turned-lovers Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander.
The Heated Rivalry obsession is widespread, having topped Crave's No. 1 most-watched spot for weeks and taken global audiences, TV networks and online algorithms by storm .
Storrie and Williams have appeared at the Golden Globes , on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and on Late Night with Seth Meyers .
In an era where data-crunching increasingly offers predictions about market-driven success, all this might make viewers wonder if Heated Rivalry has cracked the algorithmic code.
Risk-taking gone right
Was the show a bet on #booktok fans ? Heated Rivalry is based on a book that is part of the popular Game Changers series by Canadian author Rachel Reid .
However, as scholars who have examined contemporary TV production, we agree with acting coach Anna Lamadrid that Heated Rivalry would never have been made if left solely to algorithmic analysis.
The standard algorithm-driven approach designed to entice the widest possible audience - typical of U.S. streaming giants like Netflix - would argue the series had limited appeal, no star power and a niche audience.
More likely, as creator Jacob Tierney told Myles McNutt, a professor of media studies, Crave trusted him and his vision . Tierney previously made the popular and award-winning shows Shoresy and Letterkenny .
As Tierney told McNutt, Heated Rivalry was greenlit by Crave but needed additional financing. Tierney approached several studios, but received notes " that would fundamentally change the story, or fundamentally change the tone ."
In a recent CBS interview with Montréal-born actor François Arnaud , who plays older gay hockey player Scott Hunter, Arnaud said he "didn't think the show could have been made in the U.S." He said Heated Rivalry was "at a big streamer before" that wanted changes, including " no kissing until Episode 5 ."
Heated Rivalry is an example of risk-taking gone right at a time when there are calls to cancel international streamers in favour of investing in homegrown film and TV . Its success is also the result of a confluence of industry-level transformations in Canadian production and streaming.
A confluence of conditions
In the 1950s , only a few Canadian broadcasters made content entirely "in-house." Production and distribution companies were operated by government-funded agencies, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Film Board of Canada .
Creative content consisted mostly of news and filmed theatre or dance productions. In the 1960s, pay TV emerged and appetite built for racier variety TV, game shows and talk shows .
By the 1970s, the baby boomer bubble - combined with arts funding and more affordable video and editing equipment - changed everything. Low-cost content for niche audiences proliferated on cable TV .
The Canadian media system moved toward independent production. Production companies were separated from broadcasters, owned and run by different people. But the ability to green-light Canadian-scripted TV shows still depended on acquiring distribution licences from a few major broadcasters.
This triggered funding from the Canada Media Fund and provincial or territorial tax credits , which still finance most productions . To spread financial risk, many dramas were co-productions between Canada and other countries.
By 2005, in the wake of broadband and the growth of more audacious content produced for smaller audiences, Canadian broadcasters shifted to reality ("unscripted") TV as a relatively inexpensive genre that could draw big audiences.
Still, breakthrough dramatic programs - like Corner Gas (2004-09) , Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007-12) , Kim's Convenience (2016-21) and Schitt's Creek (2015-20) - dealt with the complexity and specificity of Canadian society.
Steamy streaming
Today, several key policy changes and corporate consolidations have brought smaller, riskier and explicitly Canadian projects to the screen.
The Online Streaming Act and the recently updated definition of Canadian content have targeted streaming services like Netflix and Crave to incentivize the production and discoverability of Canadian shows.
Shifts in policy have supported Canadian content, including funding for underrepresented voices. Heated Rivalry's development ran parallel to recent policy and industry shifts .
Bell Media , the largest Canadian media company, owns CTV and Crave. In March 2025, it acquired a majority stake of United Kingdom-based global distributor Sphere Abacus . This played a key role in Heated Rivalry's development.
The Canada Media Fund contributed $3.1 million to Heated Rivalry. Culture Minister Marc Miller has also noted in addition to the federal funding , the series received tax credits. Eligible Canadian film or video productions can receive a refundable tax credit.
Bell Media committed to the show budget in March 2025, including a contribution from recently acquired Sphere Abacus .
Sean Cohan, Bell Media CEO, has said the company saw Heated Rivalry as a show that could move the conglomerate " from being seen as a legacy broadcaster to a digital-media content player with global impact ."
The series was shot in just over a month at a budget of less than CDN$5 million per episode and before long, stars Williams and Storrie were whisked away to the Golden Globes .
What's next for Canadian productions?
Crave is already promoting Slo Pitch starring Schitt's Creek actor Emily Hampshire and featuring Heated Rivalry's Nadine Bhaba .
Set to premiere in 2026 , this 10-episode mockumentary series follows a queer, underdog softball team. While the show is also about gay sports, it's in a league all its own - promising "beer, lesbians and baseball."
Is Crave a beacon of hope for Canadian content? Maybe Canadian producers and distributors can leverage the Heated Rivalry effect to galvanize Canadian and international audiences onto more Canadian-produced intellectual property (IP) .
The issue of IP is now a key sticking point in multiple unresolved lawsuits by Netflix, Amazon and Spotify that have been brought to the federal government.
The looming Warner Bros Discovery (Warner Bros, HBO) acquisition by Netflix will directly impact Crave. As HBO Max's sole Canadian distributor, there's some worry about what could happen to this lucrative content for the Canadian streamer should Netflix gobble up all of the IP - a major issue for distribution deals and Canadian creatives.
Not to stretch the hockey metaphor too tight, but policy sets the rules of the game. Corporate and government funding bring the players to the rink. Producers and writers aspire to be winning coaches. Audiences want to be on the edge of their seats.
They also want more choices : exploring riskier storylines, meeting new talent and seeing their own lives - and Canadian content - on screen. With Heated Rivalry's success, they seem to have it all this season.
Daphne Rena Idiz receives funding from the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) project.
Claudia Sicondolfo receives funding from SSHRC for Archives in Action and Platforming Leisure and is a Board Member for the Toronto Queer Film Festival.
MaryElizabeth Luka receives funding from University of Toronto Cluster of Scholarly Prominence program (Creative Labour Critical Futures) as well as from periodic competitive, peer-adjudicated Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funding programs for research in their areas of expertise.
