Chapter 1: What themes are explored in the gay hockey romance 'Heated Rivalry'?
Exploring both interstellar and interpersonal space-time continuums. The Last Show with David Cooper. Hockey. It's supposed to be about broken teeth and bad blood, not longing glances between men in the penalty box. So what happens when a gay romance TV show melts the ice? Is it cultural progress? Is it a great show? Is it both?
That's what we're going to discuss here with author and associate professor of health studies at Western University, Trina Orchard. Trina, welcome to the show.
It is fabulous to be here.
We are talking heated rivalry. I finally finished it on Monday night. It is a wholesome show. It is a fun show.
Chapter 2: How does 'Heated Rivalry' challenge traditional hockey narratives?
It is a steamy show. What did you make of it when you first saw it?
Well, when I first saw it, and I should say that I'm on my fifth viewing.
So it's safe to say that you're not a fan at all.
No, no, no, no. When I first saw it, I didn't know what hit me. I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't read any of the books. I'm not a huge romance fan. I know nothing about hockey. And I was hit with, like, a bag of bricks. I was... Well, first of all, the main characters, Shane and Ilya, are sumptuous to look at.
They are not hard on the eyes, I will say this.
And you could... Just the amount of tension between them. It was so... It was electric.
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Chapter 3: What makes 'Heated Rivalry' a wholesome portrayal of gay romance?
It was charged. It kept me wanting to know what is going to happen, you know? And I was just... I was hooked immediately. And I had... No idea how much I would fall in love with this show, like so many people, and how much of my time it would soon occupy.
Now, at the risk of bringing, like, a conversation up from the last 15 years ago, I want to bring up another gay romance I saw many years ago, Brokeback Mountain. That movie was littered with sadness. One of the characters dies. There's a lot of, like, heavy negative elements. What I was so struck by was the sheer amount of joy in heated rivalry.
It's not that there aren't some negative, you know, traumatic elements there, but predominantly it's... Quite a wholesome show. And I think a narrative like that is something that I hadn't really seen. I'm sure there are other shows and movies like that. But talk to me about this.
Chapter 4: Why is emotional vulnerability important in sports culture?
Why it doesn't seem to be so common to just have a straightforward, joyful portrayal of gay romance on TV or in film.
I think it sometimes has to do with who's writing the books and who's producing the media. Because if it's sort of the normal cis het kind of folks writing the books and being the producers and directors and showrunners, we're going to get some of those same sort of myths and stories repeated.
And I think that having queer folks in important positions of power producing media, we are going to get stuff that is much more representative and that makes space for
non-tragedy that makes space for love in a way that helps people feel seen and also encouraged especially within the context of sport I think that is a really important framing of this story and why it's hitting as well because we often hear about hockey we hear sexual and gender-based violence And there was the big hockey trial this year.
So in terms of bookends, having the hockey trial on the one end and then wrapping up 2025 with this amazing show on the other, it sparked a lot of hope, I think.
Yeah.
Yeah, and to put it lightly, hockey culture leans slightly macho, I might say. You have done some research in the area of masculinity and vulnerability. Emotional vulnerability is not something I've often seen portrayed in hockey players, like real NHL hockey players. These themes come up in the show, though.
It's kind of striking that in that context of this hyper-masculine-macho sports culture, there can be true vulnerability and sweet vulnerability online. What do you make of all that?
Well, I think it's a way of showing that masculinity takes many shapes and sizes and shades and also that intimacy can be part of a strong, sexy way of doing relationships that are queer.
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Chapter 5: How does queer representation impact the perception of masculinity in hockey?
You know, both characters don't identify in the same space, right? Ilya is bi. Shane finds intimacy. through the series that he is gay. And that's a big acknowledgement as well. He actually comes out to a number of different people in the show.
And I think that really shows the importance of friendship as well as sort of the terror that can surround coming out in the traditional sense, especially to parents.
Yeah, his friend that he comes out to is the same actress from Yellow Jackets where she plays like a young sociopathic teen. So it was nice to see that sweet scene. You know, do you think locker room culture in hockey is going to shift over time because of portrayals like this? Or is the NHL sort of embracing heated rivalry, just paying lip service?
And we have a lot of work to do when it actually comes to the culture between the players.
I don't know if we can say that one show is going to dynamically change the way that locker rooms have been set up and supported, whether positively or negatively, for decades.
But I think that it might make certain people, particularly in positions of power, as well as queer players themselves, maybe question the nature of their involvement in locker room talk, or it might make them a little more courageous to stand up. And I think that it's interesting that certain people within the NHL have been watching it.
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Chapter 6: What role do queer creators play in shaping media narratives?
Whether or not that's just lip service, who knows, because it's obviously advantageous for folks in positions of power within the NHL and the OHL to say that we endorse the show. This is great. This is moving forward for hockey. But so it sort of remains to be seen in that regard.
OK, so maybe more broadly, like macho culture doesn't go away. But can these queer representations in sports maybe subtly improve mental health outcomes for players who are gay?
Maybe they aren't having big coming out scenes like portrayed in the show, but just that visibility to know that, like, if I'm in the locker room and I am privately gay, I haven't told my teammates, I might have like a better outcome and feel more seen. There must be some good there.
Oh, absolutely. And we have seen, you know, like a cascade of stories, frankly, from sports settings, including hockey, from people who have come out and people who have come out a long time ago. And then just them reflecting on, gee, I wish we had had this series when I was coming up in the locker room.
what how much less alone I would have felt, how much easier or kinder I might have been to myself, whether in private moments or with my team. So I think we are already seeing a lot of interesting changes. And there are certain series with Netflix and other streaming series about other queer people in sport and sport teams that are now being greenlighted. So that is really exciting.
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Chapter 7: How can positive portrayals of gay relationships influence mental health in sports?
I've seen interviews with actors in the show and they've talked about no specific examples, but they've talked about the sheer number of people reaching out to them having just seen the show. In some cases, even NHL players, but that's a different conversation. Parasocial bonds. the bonds that viewers or fans of famous people get, like they feel like they know these actors.
What do you make of that? All the fans that are so obsessed with these actors that are reaching out, that are just like so struck by these actors who weren't that well-known before this TV show.
I think that might be part of the reason why there is such a sensation around these young men, because we didn't know them and now we just can't get enough of them. And it also reminds us that when actors who are not super famous kind of charge into the scene, it can also help fans to feel a little bit closer to them. Like this person is not Brad Pitt. It's not Jacob Elordi.
Although, oh God, who couldn't see more of Jacob Elordi? The Ring Heights. Okay, next. But I think... It's, you know, there's a huge fan culture, whether it's sport, whether it's pop, pop culture, you know, music, etc.
Chapter 8: What is the significance of fan reactions to the actors in 'Heated Rivalry'?
And I think it just signals how much we need joy, no matter where we identify, and how important love is as a catalyst for social change and hope.
Now, this show being a joyful portrayal of these couples, what does this do for the community, the queer community's health, the gay community's health, to see them represented in media and not have it be this sad, depressing, tough narrative?
I think it's incredibly affirming. And I think that it is a way of talking about issues in other spaces that people might have been a little bit worried about talking about being queer or about sport or about coming out or finding ways to help younger people feel more supported in different settings.
It's just going to open up those conversations so much easier because we have this tremendous global success to point to. People want to watch these stories. People want to watch queer love.
Well, you can check out author Trina Orchard's book, Sticky, Sexy, Sad, Swipe Culture and the Darker Side of Dating Apps wherever books are sold. She's also an associate professor of health studies at Western University. Trina, I've enjoyed the chat. Thanks for being on the show.
It was great. Thank you.
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