• Heated Rivalry’s audience has skewed heavily female, turning the gay hockey romance into a mainstream phenomenon.
• Many women say they’re drawn to stories of men loving men because they sidestep misogyny and rigid gender hierarchies.
• Fans are already asking about Heated Rivalry season 2 as screenings, socials and book sales fuel demand.
H2: Why the show exploded
Crave’s adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels — Heated Rivalry — became a surprise cultural hit late last year. What started as a niche gay-hockey romance crossed over widely after viral TikToks and marathon screenings in women’s sports bars and bookstores. Viewers of all ages and orientations, from straight and queer women to trans fans, embraced the on-screen relationship between Shane and Ilya.
H3: An escape from misogyny and power imbalance
Many women say the appeal isn’t just the steamy scenes or handsome leads, but the lack of gendered power dynamics that commonly structure heterosexual romance stories. In Heated Rivalry, two men negotiate vulnerability, consent and care without the default expectation that women must ced e emotional labour or safety. For some viewers, that creates a rare, relaxing escape from narratives where women suffer or shoulder unequal burdens.
H3: From fanfic roots to mainstream fandom
The show’s mainstreaming traces back to decades of fan fiction and MLM (men-loving-men) romance written largely by women. That lineage — slash fiction, yaoi, boy’s love — helped push the Game Changers books into a wide readership. Many fans binge-watched the series, bought the novels, and flooded social platforms with reactions, boosting the show’s profile and turning its stars into crossover celebrities.
H2: Season 2 demand grows
Producers, creators and media coverage have noticed the demographic power behind the fandom: women outnumber queer male viewers and have helped create the show’s cultural momentum. That momentum has translated into social calls for Heated Rivalry season 2. Fans are organizing watch parties, posting tearful reaction videos, and asking networks and streamers to greenlight another season — though official renewal and scheduling details have not been announced.
H3: What fans say it gives them
For many, MLM romance offers a fantasy in which equality is assumed rather than negotiated. Fans describe feeling freed from having to project themselves into female roles or endure repeated depictions of women’s suffering. Instead, they enjoy a romcom-style slow burn where consent, mutual care and non-toxic masculinity are central.
H3: Voices from the fandom (embedded posts)
TikTok clip by Griffin Maxwell Brooks discussing fetishization: https://www.tiktok.com/@griffinmaxwellbrooks/video/7587142220046716173
Instagram reactions and fan videos have been widely shared across platforms.
H2: What this means for TV
Heated Rivalry’s popularity shows how fandoms can reshape mainstream programming: if networks see sustained engagement from diverse audiences, demand for a second season grows louder. Whether or not a renewal appears, the show has already altered conversations about who mainstream romance is for — and why many women prefer stories that sidestep traditional gender hierarchies.
(Reporting synthesised from widespread fan reaction and coverage of the Crave adaptation and Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series.)
Image Referance: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/13/why-do-women-like-heated-rivalry
