- - ‘Heated Rivalry’ Star Claims Kissing Was Almost Banned for Much of Season 1

Erin CrabtreeJanuary 13, 2026 at 11:16 PM

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Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

Heated Rivalry could’ve been a very different show if the team behind the adaptation hadn’t been unwilling to compromise on their vision.

François Arnaud—who plays Scott Hunter on the show—revealed during his Tuesday, January 13, appearance on CBS Mornings that series creator Jacob Tierney refused to tone down the steamy content from Rachel Reid’s 2019 romance book.

“I don’t think this show could have been made in the U.S.,” the actor, 40, said. “It was set up at a big streamer before, and they had so many notes and so many thoughts on what that show could be that Jacob decided to leave them and get it made in Canada.”

According to Arnaud, one of the stipulations from the streaming network—which he did not identify by name—was a demand for “no kissing until episode five” of the first season’s six installments. Instead, once Tierney took the project to Canadian streaming platform Crave, he opted to embrace the intimacy of the characters from the time of the series premiere.

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While the move led to a “much smaller budget” for the adaptation, Tierney was given more creative control over the show.

“I think that’s what people are responding to and I think in a way it’s a huge lesson for Hollywood people,” Arnaud added. “This is, like, a niche show, no movie stars and it’s a [big] sensation.”

Heated Rivalry centers around the star-crossed romance between rival professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). Since its November 2025 premiere, the series has become an undeniable phenomenon and been renewed for season 2.

Despite Tierney’s unwillingness to concede to demands about the show’s level of intimacy, Reid previously insisted that one aspect from her popular novel “had to be changed” for the TV adaptation.

“[Shane and Ilya's] first time having intercourse, the decision was made to move that to the second episode to not have everything in the first episode,” she told Today.com in December 2025. “So because of that, the snowstorm was added to the first episode to delay their meeting. And then the Vegas rooftop happened. And then, yes, two seasons go by where Ilya is just relentlessly texting Shane.”

“In the book, they are hooking up at that time because they’ve already had intercourse. But obviously we can’t skip that first time,” she continued. “Jacob said this is all my fault because I didn’t describe what happened in those two seasons in the book. But I was like, no, it’s your fault for moving it to the second episode.”

Regardless of the altered timing, Reid applauded Tierney for choosing to maintain the spice from her books.

“Jacob took it very seriously. Like, more seriously than romance ever gets taken,” she noted. “I hope it’s going to change the way romance gets filmed. I don’t think anybody thought you could actually take a high heat romance and really film it, you know? And he did. And I get the same feeling watching this that I get from reading a high heat romance. There’s nothing different about it, it’s all right there. I think that’s really brave.”

This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”