Heated Rivalry's Hudson Williams says closeted athletes are reaching out

If you haven't heard of Heated Rivalry by now, where have you been? The Canadian gay hockey romance series is everyone's current pop culture obsession.

The Crave show is all about the secret romance between ice hockey stars, Canadian Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), captain of the Montreal Metros, and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), captain of the fictional Boston Raiders.

Now Hudson Williams has revealed the impact the show is having on closeted athletes in real life.

In a new interview on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, the Canadian actor shared how closeted professional athletes in various sports have privately reached out amid the show's massive success.

"It's definitely the people who reach out, somewhat anonymously, who are like, 'I'm a professional player still, and I'm still in the closet,'" Williams said.

Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

"Really?" A surprised Cohen replied. "Closeted hockey players?"

To which Williams notes it's not just hockey players, as closeted professional athletes in football and basketball have also reached out too.

"Wow," Cohen said in response.

"Yeah," Williams agreed. "They're reaching out to like Rachel [Reid], our author, who will then relay these lovely anonymous emails. Sometimes they're just reaching out privately through Instagram, and those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you: 'This is a fun show and it's celebratory, but also sometimes it's just hitting people right in the nerve.'"

Williams' comment comes after his recent guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where he opened up on how the show has catapulted him and co-star Connor Storrie to stardom.

"Is it sinking in, how big this show is?" Fallon asked, to which Williams admitted, "Oh, no... I kind of just turn into a deer in headlights every time."

Elsewhere from Indy100, Heated Rivalry's Hudson Williams gives season 2 teaser, and Heated Rivalry to be released in the UK this week - where to watch.

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