Heated Rivalry, a steamy romance series featuring a relationship between two male professional hockey players, premieres on Crave and HBO Max on Friday, as U.S. advocacy group GLAAD says about 200 LGBTQ+ characters won't be returning to screens next year, about 40 per cent of all current roles.

The series 'Heated Rivalry' has premiered on Crave, depicting a secret romance between two male professional hockey players from rival teams. Based on a novel by Canadian author Rachel Reed, the show has generated significant attention for its portrayal of LGBTQ+ relationships in the sports world.

The release comes at a time when advocacy groups like GLAAD report a notable decrease in LGBTQ+ roles on television due to cancellations and series endings. Despite this trend, 'Heated Rivalry' has already been picked up by HBO Max in the U.S. and Australia, reflecting strong international interest and ongoing conversations about representation in media.

Gay hockey romance Heated Rivalry premieres as LGBTQ+ roles dwindle

You're an awesome player to watch. Yes. Ouch. Very good at hockey. The best, probably. We've seen each other a lot. Yeah, Boston and Montreal play against each other often. I see this. Like a huge movie star. A taste of heated rivalry. A new series on Crave that features two male professional hockey players who fall into a secret romance. It's based on a novel by Nova Scotia author Rachel Reed and it is premiering today. It already has a lot of people talking. This is such a bad idea. Look at this. How much pressure do you feel from the fans, from the hockey world in general? Oh my. CBC Entertainment reporter Griffin Yeager is here to tell us all about it. No wonder it's got fans buzzing. Okay, tell me about this because I felt woefully out of touch. But you told me it's just come out. What is Heated Rivalry and what kind of ride are audiences in for? Yes. And a ride that is, I was blushing just watching that clip there. Oh my. Yes. And you're not out of touch. Just came out on Crave. Heated Rivalry is a show about two hockey players. We've got Shane Hollander, Canada's golden boy, and Ilya Razunov from Russia. You know, on the ice, they're really pit against each other. They were drafted at the same time in constant competition. But off the ice is a years-long secret relationship. It's full of smut. It is full of coded text messages, hotel meetups, you name it. It's all in there. Like you mentioned, based off of a book from a Canadian author. So there's already this huge built-in audience and fans are ready for that smutty romance to be seen on screen. I actually was at the red carpet premiere of this show and I spoke to the two stars playing these players about what these fans are in store for. Let's take a listen to that. Sexy time? Yes. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of, that's the medium that this show uses to communicate them falling in love, you know? So hell yeah, if we want to go there, people want to see it. Love overall. If that's not too corny, I think we do it in a special way that there's something real there and something that is universal. And there you have it. It's out today. Lots to look forward to. Lots of steam is what fans are in for. And it's already making such a buzz online, like I said, because of that built-in audience. But it's all over our social feeds already. And one advocacy group has been sort of speaking out about gay roles on screen. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is sort of a really interesting time in entertainment. First of all, this show is, it presents an opportunity really for people to feel seen. We've yet to see an openly gay NHL player playing in regular competition. An organization, like you mentioned, called GLAAD in the U.S. actually released a report earlier this year. And that report said that in the coming year, over or around 200 2SLGBTQ plus roles won't be returning to screens. Now, that's due to cancellations, sort of shows that are nearing their end. 200? Yeah. But this is a little bit of a different story. This show was already picked up by HBO Max in the U.S. and Australia before it even aired. So clearly so much interest here, lots of excitement. I was on, like I said, I was on the carpet. I spoke to Jacob Tierney, that's the show's creator. And he talked about why this is such a great story to be telling. Here's that. I think that it's nice to have a story where queer people get to be in love and have sex and be happy. And so that's really nice. And I think it would have been nice two years ago. I think it'll be nice in five years. And I just, I don't know about this moment, but I'm super happy, whatever convergence of things is going on, that people are paying attention, it's so nice. So if you're in for some steam, if you're up for some smut, that's the show that you should be tuning into this weekend. The first two episodes out and lots more to come. Well, you're certainly setting up the weekend of viewing for us with all of this. Griffin Yeager in studio, thank you very much for bringing this to us. Thank you so much.

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