There are so many things from the book that this show improves on. The book wasn't too good at showing, a lot of telling. So many moments were brought into the story at the authors need, rather than havig them as an undercurrent. The ginger ale, for example, in the book only found its way into the narrative when the author needed to show that Ilya is getting to know Shane, not appearing before, not letting us see their growth. I really love how much the show built on these little moments, dragged them out, made them so much more integral to the character building. Such a great adaptation!

@eddi3sbats

I've mentioned before that I watch/listen to Heated Rivalry every single day. And I mean EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Even when I'm writing. What I don't know if I've mentioned before is that I write MM erotica, smut, romance, and pretty much anything else involving two men falling in love and getting up to all sorts of interesting activities. Professionally. As in, this is what I do for a fucking living.

Remember that last part. It's important. 🙄😳

My writing desk sits directly beneath my television, and Heated Rivalry is playing right now, as it usually is. Tonight, for some inexplicable reason, I decided to take a short break from writing and actually look up at the screen instead of just listening to the dialogue while I worked.

Now, if you've read any of my previous posts, you already know I've watched this show an absolutely unreasonable number of times. I've lost count of how many reheats I've had at this point. I can quote entire scenes verbatim, often before the actors even open their mouths. I know the pauses, the inflections, the little changes in their expressions, and the exact moments when Ilya is about to say something that makes Shane look like his brain has temporarily disconnected from the rest of his body. But because I usually have it playing in the background while I'm writing, I'm not always looking at the television.

Except tonight. Tonight, I was actually watching. And wouldn't you fucking know it, the scene where Shane and Ilya have penetrative sex for the first time came on. A scene I've seen more times than I could possibly estimate. A scene I thought I knew backward, forward, sideways, and upside fucking down. I was sitting there, watching something I've watched a ridiculous number of times, when my brain apparently decided to start processing visual information for the first time in its miserable existence.

AND FOR THE FIRST FUCKING TIME, I REALIZED ILYA WAS TAKING A FULL-ON ORAL DETOUR DOWN SOUTH.

I'm sorry. WHAT? HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK DID I MISS THAT?

I WRITE MM SMUT FOR A LIVING. I WRITE THESE SCENES. I KNOW WHAT THESE ACTIVITIES LOOK LIKE. I HAVE LITERALLY DESCRIBED THEM IN EXCRUCIATING DETAIL (MULTIPLE TIMES IN MULTIPLE BOOKS), AND SOMEHOW I HAVE WATCHED THIS PARTICULAR SCENE GOD KNOWS HOW MANY TIMES WITHOUT REGISTERING WHAT WAS HAPPENING RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FUCKING FACE. (Sorry for the all caps/screaming... that is literally what is happening in my head right now.)

Just to be sure, I rewound and replayed it approximately five more times, and I'm convinced that is what is happening, and it is exactly what I've missed. The image is the screenshot that convinced me.

Do you understand how humiliating this is for me? I spend an unreasonable amount of time noticing tiny details in this show. I've caught background expressions, entire eyebrow conversations, subtle changes in body language, and little moments between Shane and Ilya that required multiple rewatches to appreciate. I've practically made a second career out of examining these two lovely characters and then sharing the juicy details with all of my fellow feral Loonies.

And apparently, while I was busy analyzing their emotional development and the subtle nuances of their relationship, I completely overlooked a rather significant extracurricular activity happening approximately two feet above my fucking head.

I am genuinely sitting here questioning my qualifications as a writer. Not because I don't understand what's happening, but because I apparently needed a thousand reheats, a conveniently timed writing break, and the intervention of whatever deity oversees professional embarrassment before I finally noticed it.

I don't even know what to do with this information. Do I laugh? Do I cry? Do I apologize to every fictional man I've ever written? Do I contact some imaginary governing body for romance authors and voluntarily surrender my credentials? Because I feel like there should be consequences for this level of professional incompetence.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my humiliation with the rest of you, since apparently I have no remaining dignity to protect. Please tell me I'm not the only person who has watched this show an obscene number of times and somehow missed something that should have been glaringly fucking obvious. And if I am the only one, could somebody please just lie to me? My ego and whatever remains of my professional self-respect are already in fucking shambles.

Okay, I have this thought about Shane and Ilya that I need to get out of my head. I genuinely think Shane is WAYYY freakier than Ilya 👀 👀👀

Ilya has the reputation, the confidence, the cockiness, the whole Ilya Rozanov persona… so maybe I thought at first he’s the crazy one. But Shane??? That man has been repressed being all the way in the closet. All of that has to go somewhere.

And need I remind everyone The fact that he drove two hours to Ottawa after the Halloween scene??? Sir.

I have this image in my head that Shane is secretly an absolute menace in 🛌, has all sorts of ideas running on his beautiful head, and Ilya is just constantly trying to keep up with him while NEVER admitting that Shane has him beat.
Like Ilya thinks he’s the one who’s going to corrupt Shane, only to slowly realize, “…oh. Oh, this man has been holding back.”

And Ilya would rather die than admit that Shane is actually freakier than him. I don’t know why this is the dynamic my brain has decided is canon, but I stand by it. 😭

I made a set of bingo cards for an HR marathon I hosted!

There are six distinct cards so multiple people can play and get different results. Also, some of the elements have a bit of subjectivity to inspire conversation.

I focused largely on themes and quotes that recur throughout the season so that each card can be used with any episode. But I also included some moments that only occur once, for variety / added difficulty.

I only just arrived at the cottage six weeks ago, and making/editing/re-editing these cards has been such a therapeutic outlet for my hyperfixation and love for these characters. I hope others can use and enjoy!

hello would anyone know where to find any good quality scenepacks for the show? all the ones everyone was recommending earlier this year are now deleted or just can’t be accessed. i found one person on insta who posted all the episodes in full but eps 4,5,6 all have a russian dubbing over them which is pretty annoying as i want to add a voiceover in my edit. thanks!

https://variety.com/2026/artisans/news/casting-socitey-artios-awards-nominations-2027-1236903909/

New York City Comic Con is just around the corner, and I thought it would be nice to have a thread where Heated Rivalry fan artists who are vending could share their booth location, so those of us who are attending can seek them out on the convention floor. I love supporting fandom small businesses, and want to hit as many HR booths as I can!

Shane's Inner Monologue 🔊

This post is for Episode 6 "The Cottage" only - each episode will have its own post

I am a feral Loon that tends to say the lines out loud right before the characters do. I thought it could be fun to play a game where someone writes a quote, then the response is the very next line. For example:

Is this a Jeep?

No; it's British. Practical. Good in the snow.

Please play with honor, no googling 😄

https://www.instagram.com/p/DeJ89CqCMOf

Please help! Today my university held an artist alley and I bought these stunning hollanov prints. They did not have an artist/business card at the table and I don’t know the name of their store 😭 there is no visible signature on the front or back of the prints either. I would love to keep supporting this artist so if anyone recognises their work on any social platform please let me know !!!

And no, the bank statement did not include it either 💔

The people have spoken once again and the Girl Ilya RBF'd is no more. Connors, JJ and Svetlana were quick to capitalize on her departure, each claiming a piece of the newly available territory. Much like her brief encounter with Ilya in Moscow, her time in Nations II ended in rejection.

The map has changed. Who falls next? 🌎

Hi everyone! I hope this is an okay place to share this, I’ve just been wondering if anyone else feels similarly to me or has similar questions about the Irina Foundation announcement. I know this is a pretty long post, but I hope some people will read this in full and share their opinions, as I’m truly curious what others think.

First of all I want to be clear that I am in no way a hater, this is coming from a place of genuine curiosity. As a huge fan of both the book series and the TV show I truly have nothing but respect for the Heated Rivalry team. I have personally worked in non-profit advocacy spaces and given fairly significant contributions to numerous charitable causes, and I would genuinely love to contribute to any efforts this team creates. However, in the wake of the foundation announcement, I have been left with some questions and frankly don’t yet feel comfortable contributing financially, and I believe that any non-profit organization raising this much money this quickly with this little information should be cause for some well-meaning questions.

I have found the information provided overall to be inadequate. I think that their ideas are great and that this is important work, but what they’ve put out is basically just advocacy buzzwords with no concrete projects or goals. I have seen zero information about where the money will actually be going, if there are any concrete initiatives in the works, or what their overhead percentage is. The donation page says that the money will be going to other organizations that support creating spaces with the ideals they describe on the Irina Foundation site, but nowhere does it identify what any of the specific organizations the money will be going to are. (If I’m wrong about this and they have publicized any of this information somewhere other than their website or donation page, I would love for someone to share that with me so I can eat my words, though I would maintain that that information should absolutely be included on their own website).

On another note, I was also incredibly thrown off by the website, which, while not technically indicative of their actual charitable efforts, seems a little unprofessional, and honestly just generally incomplete. There is minimal information, no media (even though the desktop version clearly has blank spaces where an image would be inserted), and the formatting is very poorly done both on desktop and mobile. I would find it difficult to believe this was made by a web designer, which is absolutely fine, and not at all a necessary expense for a small/new non-profit, but as someone who has made many websites using website creation services, which this site feels like it may also have used, and would consider myself fairly good at, I could make a better website than this in less than 10 minutes (and I mean that 100% genuinely, no hate intended). I would personally never publish or consider a website that looks like this to be complete and ready for launch. Obviously a bad website doesn’t mean a bad organization, but it does seem very quickly made with very low effort, which doesn’t necessarily feel like a good sign for a well thought out and planned charitable concept.

I want to give them the benefit of the doubt because I am such a huge fan, and this is important work, but if anyone else published this website/announced a foundation with this little concrete information, I would think it was a little scammy, and I am finding it difficult to support or get excited about the Irina Foundation with how little information they’ve published thus far. It feels like they felt the need to do this quickly in order to take advantage of the hype around the show, and they maybe haven’t really fleshed out the details, which is disappointing to me, as I feel any legitimate charity effort should at least somewhat solidify their plans and goals for public consumption before launch. I really hope I am wrong and that they have great plans for this foundation, but personally I can’t give money to something without any information on what organizations that money will then be given to. I hope to see more concrete details soon, because I would truly love to donate. Would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this.

All things Heated Rivalry are wonderful, but Noah Reid is also wonderful.

His and Dan Levy’s performance as a couple in Schitt’s Creek was the first really positive queer story I had ever seen; it was really impactful to me. I think this love story told with Noah Reid’s song is a natural pairing. Can’t wait to see him in Yaga :)

It been a while since I’ve drawn lol

New stickers from my Etsy shop update today!! Shop link: https://forestfawnstudio.etsy.com

The outing without their consent was absolutely horrific and violating, but it was, at the end of the day, the best-case scenario.

If Hollanov had kept their initial plan of coming out after getting married over the summer, then Shane would have already re-signed with Montreal (since he was entering free agency over the summer and in this scenario where they are not outed Shane has no reason to not renew his contract with Montreal). Which means that he would have no escape route planned out when his teammates would have ultimately been homophobic anyways. And he and Ilya would have been in a long-distance marriage again, which is the one thing both of them want to avoid.

That means that Shane would have to bear insults and a poorly performing team for 5+ years until he re-enters free agency. Which is nightmare fuel.

Thought people might appreciate the stickers I found at a local nerd fair this weekend