François Arnaud has dished about his NSFW scenes in Heated Rivalry.
After a gruelling week of waiting, fans were finally able to sink their teeth into the third episode of the hit gay hockey romance series.
Based on Rachel Reid’s hit novel, Heated Rivalry follows Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, two elite professional hockey players who have a fierce rivalry on the ice but harbour a secret romantic relationship behind closed doors.
However, instead of focusing on Shane and Ilya’s sorrid love affair, this week’s episode followed another hunky gay couple – New York Admirals hockey captain Scott Hunter (Arnaud) and smoothie barista Kip Grady (Robbie G.K.).
For those not familiar with Reid’s novels, the two handsome characters are the leads in Game Changer, the first book in the popular Game Changers series.
After an adorable meet-cute situation at the Straw Berry, Kip and Scott start a sizzling romantic relationship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for the lovebirds’ connection to hit a significant roadblock when Scott struggles with anxiety over coming out.
While this week’s release didn’t feature as many steamy moments as the first two episodes, it still received glowing reviews on social media, with many gushing over Kip and Scott’s love story.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Arnaud opened up about episode three’s lack of “smutty” moments, describing it as a “gear shift” for the show.”
“It’s a bit of a bubble [episode], but then I think it certainly has an influence on how the other episodes play out,” he explained.
While Arnaud acknowledged the shortage of steamy moments, he added that more Scott-and-Kip spicy content may be headed our way.
“We shot a lot more than there is. I don’t know, maybe they’re saving it for later, but we shot a lot, like two days of sex scenes. We knew we wanted it to be sweet, sometimes clumsy, joyful, and easy, and not for an audience. Just for them to have that moment,” the Schitt’s Creek star continued.
Elsewhere in his interview, Arnaud reflected on his casting process for the series and reuniting with friend and showrunner Jacob Tierney, revealing that the latter pitched Scott and Kip as “the emotional pendant of Shane and Ilya.”
“He said, I didn’t write this for you, but I cannot hear anyone else’s voice in my head when I read it,” he continued.
The Borgias star went on to reveal that he was initially shocked by the show’s sexual content, telling the news outlet that he thought Tierney was writing “soft porn” at first.
“I was like, ‘What is this?’ And then he really turns it on its head. Hot sex is great, but he uses hot sex as a way into so much more than that,” he added.
Towards the end of his interview, Arnaud teased that “there’s more to come” regarding Scott and Kip’s relationship (thank goodness!)
New episodes of Heated Rivalry air every Friday on Crave in Canada and on HBO in the U.S., with the finale scheduled for 26 December.
As of writing, a UK release has sadly not been announced.
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