“Heated Rivalry” star Hudson Williams says closeted professional athletes have been reaching out privately
- - “Heated Rivalry” star Hudson Williams says closeted professional athletes have been reaching out privately
Sydney BucksbaumJanuary 8, 2026 at 4:03 AM
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Courtesy Bell Media
Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams in 'Heated Rivalry'
If you've been online even once in recent weeks, you know Heated Rivalry has pop culture in a chokehold. The modestly made Canadian series about rival Major League Hockey players in a secret romance has become an instant global phenomenon on HBO Max, leading to a swift season 2 renewal and stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie becoming viral sensations practically overnight.
However, Williams is now revealing that the fictional love story about closeted professional athletes may be more realistic than viewers realize.
In a preview for a new interview on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live (airing Thursday at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT), Williams says that closeted professional athletes from hockey, football, and basketball have been reaching out privately since the success of the six-episode first season.
"It's definitely the people who reach out, somewhat anonymously, who are like, 'I'm a professional player still, and I'm still in the closet,'" Williams tells host Andy Cohen, who is shocked to hear it.
Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in 'Heated Rivalry'
"Really?" Cohen responds. "Closeted hockey players?"
Williams confirms that it's not just hockey players, but also professional athletes across many sports including football and basketball as well.
"Wow," Cohen says.
"Yeah," Williams continues. "They're reaching out to like Rachel [Reid], our author, who will then relay these lovely anonymous emails. Sometimes they're just reaching out privately through Instagram, and those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you: 'This is a fun show and it's celebratory, but also sometimes it's just hitting people right in the nerve.'"
Watch the interview clip below:
Williams stars in the Crave original adaptation of Reid's six-book Game Changers series as young Canadian hockey phenom Shane Hollander, who first meets Russian star player Ilya Rozanov (Storrie) before they're drafted into the fictional MLH as rookies on opposing teams. As the No. 1 and 2 draft picks, the league, media, and fans pit the two against each other in, well, a heated rivalry, but it turns into something much more when sparks fly in a different way.
As their hot hookups and sexting deepen into a real relationship, the two hockey stars are forced to keep their sizzling romance secret due to their very public careers, and the fear of how coming out would impact their professional and private lives. The two continue an illicit love affair behind closed doors over many years, struggling as they try to deny their feelings to each other and themselves while playing against each other on the ice.
The six-episode first season titillated audiences with explicit sex scenes featuring the stars in the first two episodes (which debuted simultaneously on Canada's Crave streamer and HBO Max in the U.S. and Australia), but Williams believes that the show is no more graphic than any show depicting heterosexual love scenes. The only difference? The intimate scenes are between two queer men.
"That was something even going in that [showrunner] Jacob [Tierney] was very sort of like explicit in talking with us, and also just being real with his grievances," Williams says. "If this were straight sex scenes, people would be like, 'Oh, it's not [graphic].' We don't see anything, you know? Like there are no boobs in the show. There's no dicks in the show. There's just a lot of butt."
Cohen jumped in to add that they are "beautiful butts," to which Williams agreed, and thanked him.
"Yeah, I got a lot of Connor Storrie butt posters in my room," Williams jokes in his trademark unhinged way. "But no, if that was a straight intimate scene, it wouldn't be talked about in that way."
Williams also hopes that Heated Rivalry will help to dismantle toxic masculinity in others, both from watching the show itself and how he and costar Storrie show physical and verbal affection for each other in interviews that have since gone viral.
"What's always been something that's frustrated me, not even with like other men but also like just there's a lot of ... taboos around exploring physical intimacy with just people you admire and love, without people, especially in like western culture [thinking], 'Oh, they're they're f---ing, they're doing this,'" Williams says. "I just was always frustrated by these kinds of notions. Especially with Connor, who I love dearly, there was something I was always kind of adamant that no matter what people think or want to infer, I'm always going to just physically express my love."
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The actor credits his "definitely healthy parents" as well as "acting class" with building that confident background in him.
"I feel like if you're still biased or jaded or uncomfortable with expressing physical love for people in 2025, you've got to f---ing just get over yourself," he adds.
You heard Hollander!
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
