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“I can’t stop staring!”: Fans go feral over new steamy Heated Rivalry poster

WORDS BY DEMETRI WOODE

14th November 2025

The new poster for Heated Rivalry has fans feeling hot and bothered.

On 28 November, the highly anticipated gay romance series will finally be making its way to Crave.

Based on Rachel Reid’s novel of the same name, the upcoming series follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), two talented professional hockey players and captains of their respective teams, who have built their careers on intense rivalry on the ice.

However, behind the scenes, the two players cultivate a secret romantic connection that’s full of clandestine encounters and complicated feelings.

The synopsis adds: “What begins as a secret fling between confused teenagers at 17 evolved into a years-long journey of love, denial, and self-discovery. Over the next eight years, as they chase glory on the ice, they struggle to navigate their feelings off of it.

“Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can’t ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there’s room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile – and powerful – as real love.”

In addition to Storrie and Williams, Heated Rivalry stars Sophie Nélisse as Rose Landry, Dylan Walsh as David Hollander, Christina Chang as Yuna Hollander, François Arnaud as Scott Hunter, Kaden Connors as Sasha, Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady, Harrison Browne as Connors and Slavic Rogozine as Alexei Rozanov.

While we’re still a couple of weeks away from the premiere of Heated Rivalry, Crave recently treated fans to a sizzling new poster to hold them over.

Taking inspiration from the book’s original cover, the snapshot features Shane and Ilya, who are wearing nothing but their hockey pants, entangled in a tense embrace.

To no surprise, the extremely hot poster has sparked thirsty reactions from social media users, with one fan on X/Twiter writing: “They know EXACTLY what the audience wants, I’m crying.”

Another person echoed similar sentiments, writing: “How long have you been staring at this for? Yes.”

A third fan added: “DON’T ASK ME THE COLOR OF ANYTHING.”

Check out more fan reactions below.

As of this writing, an international release date for the show has not been announced.

Check out the full trailer for Heated Rivalry below.

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