Genuine review of Heated Rivalry

It sucked.

Disclaimer: If you enjoy Heated Rivalry- that's fine with me, but I'm just gonna say my thoughts and opinions about it. I am not homophobic, I love you, homo's (homosapiens, homosexuals, all of you). I don't label myself as anything- I just like who I like. So I hope that answers something on who I am, I guess??? I don't know, I just wanna say this clearly, because Heated Rivalry was probably made with gay audiences in mind- not some random teenage girl (who, by the way, didn't wanna watch it in the first place).

Also, I will be saying spoilers and there will be mentions of how it's just gay p0rn. So if you don't wanna hear that, just leave, for your own sake.

I dislike Heated Rivalry. A lot. Music is great, that scene where the other dude comes out as gay in front of a whole audience after winning? Loved that. But holy shit, it's just gay p0rn.

I watched Heated Rivalry with two girls from my class who invited me to watch it the whole day on the 15th of May this year (2026). I said yes, I desperately wanted the looming presence of one of the girls (that kept begging me to watch it) away, because I knew I wouldn't be a fan of it. And hey, I don't mind getting to know people a little more- plus, free food and mario kart (I am obsessed with mario kart rn, I don't have the game myself, like actually, what the fuh). One of the girls said that yeah, there's a lot of- s3x, but the plot is "so good". I won't say in detail of my day, so let's just say everything I hated and/or liked about Heated Rivalry. 

There is no plot. The plot? Russian guy's dad dies and his brother sucks (it's only like- less then 25% of the show at least), Canadian guy has to come out to his parents after him and Russian dude got caught gripping eachother's ass cheeks (that's the end that we then just skipped and played mario kart instead) and the other plot is this totally other guy being scared to come out as gay (which was the only cute part about this show, they had more genuine show of connection then the main dudes).

There is no relationship forming, the "heated rivalry" only occurs because they're on opposite teams and the "rivalry" is only a wee bit in the first episode, the only part that's "heated" is the s3x and a few episodes later when they're trying to make each other jealous- which wasn't entertaining at all. I was praying for something interesting, for something that makes me wanna cry because it's good represenation, etc, etc. The only good part is, as I have mentioned at least twice by now, is the scene where that other fella comes out as gay in front of an entire audience with good music playing. For the rest, it's corny p0rn. There is no relationship developement with the main dudes (Ilya and Shane, yes, I know their names, but they piss me off), every emotional moment is ruined by another s3x scene, nothing feels genuine, nothing feels serious. If you wanna watch something like Heated Rivalry, then watch gay p0rn, it's healthier than calling this good representation (If you wanna watch good representation for gay men and Lgbtq+ in general, then scroll down, I've got a list). The other guy was better representation then the main dudes, because they were just horny assholes. Also, Shane having had s3x with Ilya every single time they get the chance to, then he still has the audacity to say he didn't know he was gay after all that, like, he had to lead a girl on just to realize he misses sucking a Russian guys d!ck. I'm actually 99% sure that the makers of Heated Rivalry wanted to just make gay p0rn for themselves to enjoy after reading hockey book p0rn, and forgot they had to add some sort of a plot to it. I'm tired of s3x in media, for example; I'm watching Bridgerton with my sister and I'm now at season 2, the scene where Anthony freaked out at the bee stinging Kate because of how his father died and she helps him out of a panic attack- it was amazing and way more meaningful then what my sister told me happened in the book, he sucked the venom out of her boob. As you can already tell, the helping Anthony out of a panic attack meant more then the boob sucking. In this case, Heated Rivalry is if the creators of Bridgerton chose to do the boob sucking instead of the meaningful bit. Does that make sense?

I dislike Heated Rivalry, greatly. I think it's terrible representation, I think there is no plot, I think it's just straight up p0rn, I think the emotional and moving moments were ruined every single time, I think it's overrated and I think the fans of the show are horny teenagers that need to genuinely look for better material to express themselves with. And if they're not horny teenagers, they're straight people who love to fetishize queer media (any queer media), and at this point, I think that's the target audience for this show. I did really like the music; I'll Believe In Anything is my favourite one. But a sequence with good music doesn't automatically make the show good. The other dude's relationship had more meaning then the main fella's.

Anyways, here's a list of better queer representation! 

Some are headcanons and/or implied in different ways, unfortunately (hopefully in the future these types of things won't have to be called headcanons and there will be genuine representation for gay people with good plots included):

• Merlin bbc tv show
• Ever After High (Apple White & Darling Charming)
• The Owl House
• Some Like It Hot!
• The Hobbit
• Lord Of The Rings
• Like Minds
• Brokeback Mountain
• Dead Poets Society
• Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (because of Remus and Sirius- fuck j.k Rowling)
• Derry Girls
• But I'm A Cheerleader
• Black Swan
• Frozen II
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and MLP in general
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore
• Bullet Train
• The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
• Breakfast At Tiffany's (the book)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Wicked (lowk)
• Hamilton fan art (wild)
• Apollo's stories in Greek Myths (Ancient Greece in general)
• The Amazing Digital Circus (if you love that, please read I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, it's so good)
• Brooklyn Nine Nine
• Amphibia
• Paranorman
• Nimona
• Mean Girls
• Modern Family
• The Goldfinch
• Jennifer's Body
• The Last Unicorn (often resonates with trans people)
• Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
• She's The Man/ The Shakespeare play it was based on; Twelfth Night