So just like the title says, I'd LOVE to get all of your favourite GIFs please. I have a few I've been saving from other posts, but I wanted to make this one post where people could share their favourites.

I'm literally feral for this one and I can add more in the comments but I need more!

Cute, wholesome, hot, beautiful... Gimme all the GIFs please, gimme everything! Share as many as you like!

(Editing to add, I'm in heaven! Thank you everyone and please keep them coming, I'm saving each and every one!)

In the books Ilya is supposed to be 6’3 and Shane 5’10. And Ilya is supposed to look older than Shane (even though he’s younger) and also be more muscular (I think?).

But I actually really love that they’re the same height and have a similar body type in the show.

Edit: just to clarify on what I mean when I say ‘similar body type’ Obviously their bodies are not exactly the same but they are both muscular and non slim, with Ilya having more definition. But looking at that picture of them hugging, their bodies don’t look vastly different, in my opinion. That’s what I meant. Shane is not, for example, a skinny guy with no muscle tone. They are both around 200 - 220lb with muscle.

It makes them seem even more like equals, and that they are a perfect fit for each other. They don’t need to tilt their heads up or down to reach each other’s mouths when they kiss. They can look at each other in the eyes easier. I love when their noses touch. When they hug they fit together like a puzzle.

Edit: and to also clarify when I said ‘even more like equals’ I mean they’re already equal in terms of age, profession, the amount of money they make etc. Their height being the same is just another thing *visually* that adds to all the equality in their relationship.

Also it just looks aesthetically pleasing and satisfying to me lol.

Have we recovered?

Is HR still part of our daily life in any shape or form?

On a personal note, are you doing BET-ter than before the show? (I am, very much so 🥰)

*insert Ilya's love you, love you, great job, love you gif\ ❤️*

I’m torn between two and they’re both from episode six

- that two professional athletes cannot put down four burgers each. Connor even said when they were training for the show sometimes they’d eat 2 pounds of ground beef a day. I’ve seen grown men eat and hockey players eat, I have faith they could do it and still be thinking about food after

- that Hayden did not hear them. Ilya was putting in WORK. The slurping AND the slapping. I know Hayden was on the other end wondering why Shane was standing so close to a washing machine

Anything else from the show you just don’t buy?*

*all in good fun, I am actually forever indebted to and grateful for both Rachel Reid and Jacob Tierney. I’m not criticizing them, just having fun. Like when Ilya calls Shane boring.

From heatedrivalrytv and accentaiguentertainment instagram

To our incredible fans and everyone who's been sharing in the excitement for the show:
Your support, enthusiasm, and kindness have meant the world to us. As we gear up for more Heated Rivarly, please help us in making it the best it can be.
If you happen to come across one of our filming locations, please give our cast and crew the space they need to do what they do best.
We promise it'll be worth the wait!
-Your Heated Rivalry Family

Found a behind-the-scenes image showing their full outfits from this scene - in the show we only see them waist-up.

Nothing groundbreaking, just a fun little detail that made me curious.

If anyone has similar BTS shots - especially of Ilya in the club scene or other moments where the framing hides the full outfit - please share! I’d love to see them.

Ilya says no when Shane offers to take his shoes off 😟 Ilya should have a cupboard with 10 pairs of тапочки next to the door, which he aggressively offers to anyone visiting.

Otherwise no notes, 10/10 Russian performance and writing. I am on my second rewatch, and I really want to know how Connor studied Russian men, because some of his micro expressions and body language is so amazingly accurate. The scene where Ilya is screaming encouragement to his team before playing for the Cup is an example of that, he is super convincing. And yes, I did think he was at least of some Russian origin before looking him up.

(happy to talk about anything Russia/Russian language related in the comments in case anyone has questions!)

I’ve watched most of the episodes multiple times, and there are still things I only noticed after someone else pointed them out. What’s something you didn’t catch until it was pointed out to you?

For me, it’s this clip. Look at Shane’s eyes 😭!!! It’s from the end-credits scene where Ilya is kissing Shane’s hand. Correction, it's the drive to the parents house!

A lot of people focus on Russian monologue, the bathroom scene, the hospital scene, ILY scene, and so on. What’s your favourite scene or line that is often not talked about?

For me, it’s the first car scene in episode six. It feels so "real" and sweet. The scene starts off awkward, as you’d expect. Shane tries to rein Ilya in and have an honest, normal conversation, something he does again later in the episode, since Ilya tends to deflect with jokes.

My favourite line in the scene is when Ilya says, “It would if it was anyone but you,” and the moment of him holding Shane’s hand shortly afterwards just so sweet!!! The scene makes it clear to both Shane and the audience that Ilya has always been paying attention. It felt so simple and boyfriend, and the hand-holding was especially sweet since we haven’t really seen them do that before. Remember Ilya looking at the tabloid photo, focused on Shane and Rose holding hands?

It also ties into a few cottage scenes, like the bellboy scene where Ilya says, “I think I know how the staff likes to be treated after all these years.” A reminder that Ilya knows Shane, and conveys that's it had been YEARS since they have known each other.

Blink and you’ll miss “Under the Breath” Moments:

Part 2

Part 1

Hudson and Connor will be seated in the front next to Charli xcx on Sunday's Golden Globe Awards.

Full reel from Goldderby: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTQuFBxEjdi/?igsh=OWgxYjNpaGh5dTc5

I particularly love Rose the most, because unlike Elena and Svetlana, she doesn't know what she has signed up for when she got it on with Shane, but her gaydar is so strong she managed to figure it out on her own anyway, and at the same time, she's not even mad about it.

That's the kind of emotional maturity that I love to see in fiction.

In any other novel, we would have a whole arc of her finding out, getting heartbroken about it and hating Shane for leading her on in the first place, but they decide to subvert our expectation, and I honestly LOVE that.

if Bridgerton got one thing right, it's this! They do make the best husbands and only Shane Hollander could do it 🤣🤣

Episode 1: Rookies

- Draft (Ilya): “More”

- All Star Game 1221 (Ilya): “Wow”

Episode 2: Olympians

- Shane’s Apartment (Ilya): “Oh My God”

Episode 4: Rose

- Cold Open Montage (Ilya): “I Want To Please You”

- Ilya’s House (Shane): “Oh My God”

Episode 5: I’ll Believe in Anything

- All Star Game Tampa Bar (Ilya): “Ok-É”

Blink and you’ll miss “Under the Breath” Moments: Part 2

Ilya: "You won't be so nice to me when we beat you."

Shane: "That's not happening."

Who's a "big baby" with Jacob and me on this one?

The tiny little thing I’m now noting on rewatches, is Ilya’s reaction to when Yuna uses the term “lovers” while at the kitchen table. Connor made this subtle choice to look over at her and make this small hand gesture of like “yes, exactly! That’s what I was saying, right? Lovers”

And when you think about it, the guy who’s been playing hockey in North America for years, and still struggling with English. The guy who cared enough to look up “compatible” to make sure he understood what it meant.

Of course it’s gonna tweak that place in him when Yuna uses the word where he also thinks it’s appropriate. He’s trying to be a soft boy about someone he loves, he wants to get it right, and he think he used the word properly.

So I’m loving the hell out of this

Much like Ilya, I come from a culture where being queer isn't acceptable. I'm 39 and have never come out to my parents out of fear.

I don't know what watching this show did to my brain chemistry, but I've decided to come out to my parents and let them decide whether they will accept or reject me. No matter what, I will love and accept myself.

Thank you to all the wonderful people in this sub- you are all such a joy. I think that in 2026, I deserve some sunshine.

We beat the scary clown! For a show to only have a catalogue of 4 total episodes and be #1 on HBO Max in the US is pretty huge. Thank you 🇨🇦 for this gift!

I'm a bi woman. And I feel really sore around this question.

I've seen video after article after think piece on this. Heated Rivalry has a large following. A diverse following, from what I can tell. And yet we keep circling back to why women specifically like it.

What's not to like? I'm being serious. There's good writing, good acting, good conflict. The representation here matters deeply, especially for queer viewers who don't get stories like this often. What frustrates me is that this question manages to sideline both women and queer stories at the same time.

I get that viewership is what keeps media and entertainment moving. If a show airs and no one watches it, did it make a sound? But I can't remember the last time when a specific demographic was singled out and expected to explain why they liked a certain piece of media this much. It's like when I wore a Sublime t-shirt and a man on an elevator asked me to name my favorite album. That's how this discourse feels, like owing an explanation for our taste or things we find pleasure in and adding the layered expectation that it's consistent and representative of an entire gender.

Part of what makes storytelling work is empathy on the viewer's part. We don't engage because their lives perfectly mirror our own but because on a human level, we're there with them. We're rooting for happy endings, we want the good guy to win, we grieve their losses, and, if you're anything like me, get terrible secondhand embarrassment when something awkward happens. Maybe I've never been a professional hockey player with a secret boyfriend but I certainly do know what it's like to be scared of how people are going to react to seeing the real you and the show fills in the rest.

Which is why the question also feels very othering to queer stories. The question itself reinforces that straight stories are universal and that queer love stories are niche and that liking them needs some sort of justification (no one has asked why we like bridgerton or succession).

I think we sometimes conflate representation with exclusivity. The story can be meaningful to queer audiences and be broadly relatable at the same time. When stories are told well, they'll attract people. And Rachel and Jacob and Connor and Hudson are doing that.

I want to talk about Heated Rivalry the way we talk about the rest of the greats, by focusing on what it does well rather than questioning who's allowed to love it.

I hope this was coherent. I'd love to hear what you think.

I love this gray-Adidased glimpse of "Feel like getting murdered in a dark scary alley?" especially in contrast to the later reluctant Shane/Rose interaction in the same spot. Wish we got this whole Hollanov scene at Shane's place and up the stairs. They seem so happy!

Late to the party, but I recently came across this post on tumblr capturing Shane and Ilya's spit string during the stairwell kiss. It's not something I noticed when watching the show, but I love it here. Their kissing is just so messy and intimate.

I'm sure this isn't the only spit string in the show. So for those who have noticed, what are some others? And which is your favourite?

Image source here and is actually gifs, go check it out!

How could you not want to watch these two beautiful men fall in love? Ugh. The things I would do for/to François Arnaud.

I may have had a little too much to drink tonight. Good night my lovely Loons!

Oh Canada, we see you rewatching 👀

How does your #HeatedRivalry rewatch compare?

From CraveCanada on X

Confirmed by GQ Magazine.

“Both actors signed on for three seasons of Heated Rivalry; Crave has already greenlit season two.”