"Across the country, notably in New York City right now, lesbian bars are throwing "Heated Rivalry" watch parties; in the comments of "Heated Rivalry" TikToks, you will frequently see "I'm a lesbian, and I'm still at the cottage." The gay hockey romance between two rivals based on books from Rachel Reid's popular Game Changers series has everyone in a tizzy."
"No, seriously, I mean everyone: even Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen drunkenly referenced the show on CNN's infamous New Year's Eve broadcast, and folk-country star Brandi Carlisle confirmed on the same show that it's all she can think about. The stars were presenters at the Golden Globes this week. You can't open a social media app without seeing a fan video of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov or an interview with the two men who play them, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie."
"While the series' and show's audience has an exponential amount of other women under the queer umbrella who have been openly obsessed with the story and its characters since the first books were released several years ago, straight women are bearing the brunt of puzzled pundits. The rest of women and femmes are largely erased by the current discourse. Yes, of course, straight women are watching, but to narrow the scope of the fanbase for a conveniently "paradoxical" narrative feels disingenuous from the get-go."
A television adaptation of Rachel Reid's Game Changers centers on a gay hockey romance between two rivals and has sparked widespread, cross-demographic fandom. Celebrity mentions and Golden Globes visibility accelerated mainstream attention, while social media shows persistent fan engagement like watch parties and viral clips. Significant portions of the queer female audience have long been invested in the books and the characters, yet media coverage frequently foregrounds straight women. That narrowed framing erases many women and femmes and overlooks the multiple cultural, emotional, and identity-based reasons the story resonates across sexualities, races, and gender identities.
Read at Roger Ebert
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