Heated Rivalry has taken fans by storm, and fans need to have an upcoming LGBTQ+ sports romance TV show on their radar. Up until a couple weeks ago, the adaptation of Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid wasn’t going to be available outside of Canada.
The show was pretty risky for any US distributor, given its gay romance and frequent explicit sex scenes. Luckily, at the last moment, HBO Max swooped in. Heated Rivalry would simultaneously release on Crave and HBO Max weekly, making the show available in Canada, the US, and Australia.
Their gamble instantly paid off, as Heated Rivalry topped the charts almost instantly after its release. Fans cannot get enough of the sexy, romantic relationship between hockey rivals, Russia’s Ilya Rozanov and Canada’s Shane Hollander. While enjoying Heated Rivalry, fans also need to keep one upcoming LGBTQ+ sports romance TV show on their radar.
Heated Rivalry Is The Best Spicy LGBTQ+ Sports Romance
Most LGBTQ+ Sports Romances Lack The Sexy Scenes
Right now, Heated Rivalry is the hottest thing on TV for LGBTQ+ folks. There are some steamy LGBTQ+ romance TV shows, but they don’t center on sports. There are some LGBTQ+ sports movies, but they don’t feature romance. There are only a very small number of true LGBTQ+ sports romances, and they’re absolutely chaste in comparison to the spicy HBO Max show Heated Rivalry, which is perfect for BookTok fans.
Heated Rivalry is one of a kind in that it balances a compelling enemies-to-lovers romance with well-made, graphic queer sex scenes. Most of the focus in the first two episodes is on Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander’s sexual relationship, but in between sex scenes, we get flirty banter and anxious text messages that help build up the romantic tension between them. Plus, plenty of longing glances.
At the same time, the show doesn’t shy away from depicting LGBTQ+ sex, which is kind of a relief. As much as we’ve made progress in depicting queer relationships onscreen, there’s still a stigma around gay sex. Heated Rivalry is packed with really great sex scenes. While the scenes will get viewers hot and bothered, I’m not just talking about the steam level.
Between contraceptives and consent, Heated romance is an excellent representation of what healthy LGBTQ+ sex can look like. However, it is just one of the many types of relationships that can exist within the queer community. Luckily, another LGBTQ+ sports romance show is coming that will expand the representation to include sapphics.
Cleat Cute Is A Sapphic Sports Romance Book Coming To TV
Heated Rivalry Focuses On Hockey & Cleat Cute Centers On Soccer
Anyone who loves Heated Rivalry needs to have Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner (who uses they/them pronouns) on their radar. It’s one of the most exciting upcoming romance TV shows based on books, and it has a ton of similarities to Heated Rivalry.
The story follows Grace, a 26-year-old autistic soccer player who experiences a potentially career-ending injury while her team is on the path to the World Cup. She is replaced by Phoebe Matthews, an ADHD rookie who has a sunny personality. The two have a rivals-to-friends-with-benefits-to-lovers path, and they exemplify the black cat-golden retriever dynamic that’s so popular in romance novels.
Like in Heated Rivalry, Cleat Cute has main characters that readers want to root for. Grace and Phoebe actually feel realistic, each with hopes and insecurities. Milsner made their characters feel fleshed out in a way that many books fail to.
Grace and Pheobe also have an absolutely intense chemistry that’s obvious from the start. This makes it easy to root for them to become lovers, even when they’re unsure about moving past the friends-with-benefits stage.
What’s more, like Heated Rivalry, the soccer actually plays a major role in the book, rather than feeling like a backdrop to a romance story. The fact that they are competing for the same exact position on the team puts an obstacle between them, much like Ilya and Shane’s opposing hockey teams put a barrier between their potential romance.
Cleat Cute Needs To Keep The Spiciness Level From The Book
Cleat Cute’s Spiciness Needs To Match Heated Rivalry
Aside from the similar premises, the key parallel between Heated Rivalry and Cleat Cute is their spice levels. The sex between Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander starts earlier than the sex between Grace and Phoebe. However, once the spiciness begins, it’s just as graphic and intense.
Credit to Meryl Wilsner, they can write a really great sex scene between women. The TV adaptation needs to maintain the same level of steam as the book to continue the trend of great LGBTQ+ spicy sports romances. They also have to make sure the sex scenes are made for the queer people being represented.
When I read Cleat Cute, it’s evident that a Sapphic person wrote the sex. The scenes don’t cater to the male gaze. Instead, both Grace and Phoebe see each other as people instead of sexualized body parts. They want to make each other feel good, which comes in many different forms. They’re enthusiastically consenting without it feeling rehearsed or fake. They are communicating about what feels good to them.
It’s absolutely essential that the Cleat Cute TV show take this same approach. We already have enough lesbian kissing and sex scenes on TV that are obviously written for men to enjoy, rather than catering to nonbinary people, femmes, and women. That would ruin the show. They need a good intimacy coordinator and a director who understands what queer women want.
The only change they should consider when it comes to the sex scenes is the dirty talk, which could use a little finessing to sound more realistic for the onscreen adaptation. The dirty talk doesn’t need to be removed, but it occasionally sounds more like something a porn character would say instead of a real person, which is jarring since Grace and Phoebe feel so real.
What Is The Status Of The Cleat Cute TV Show?
Cleat Cute was picked up by Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird’s production company in mid 2024, and there unfortunately haven’t been many updates since then. It can take years for a book to go from being optioned to appearing on the screen. However, there are two reasons to be hopeful that it will come sooner rather than later.
Firstly, both the producers of Cleat Cute are queer pro-athletes, so this story is more personal than many others would be. Secondly, the popularity of Heated Rivalry could incentivize them to speed up the development and production timeline. Cleat Cute could use the momentum of steamy LGBTQ+ sports romances to gain attention for the upcoming TV show.
- Release Date
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November 28, 2025
- Network
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Crave
- Directors
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Jacob Tierney
Cast
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Connor Storrie
Ilya Rozanov
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Hudson Williams
Shane Hollander
