Update 23/1/2026: The day after this post was first published, Heated Rivalry co-stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie were announced as torchbearers for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. That’s a bold marketing move if I’ve ever seen one – the global obsession is about to grow even greater. Bravo.
I finished Heated Rivalry last Tuesday night – my housemate and I watching it in three intense, quick-succession, two-episode stints. The week before, about six different friends had told us we had to watch it. With this amount of hype, our curiosity was well and truly piqued… but our expectations were low.
At the end of episode one, we looked at each other – frowning – and said, “wait, that was actually quite good”. By episode five, we had to call a 20-minute time-out to calm down and grab a glass of water. It was outstanding television, and its cultural impact is unprecedented. So – as a freelance graphic and web designer, here are three small business lessons I’m taking from the breakout success of Heated Rivalry.
Lesson 1: Stick to your guns
Heated Rivalry showrunner Jacob Tierney has been credited with the success of the TV adaptation. This is because he respected the source material, and made confident creative choices using his professional intuition and lived experience. Business owners should learn from this.
In an interview with Slate in December, Tierney recounted pressure in transitioning Heated Rivalry from a book to the TV screen. Hollywood executives, who thought they knew better, allegedly recommended marketability changes which he did not like. This included key changes to how the main characters’ relationship unfolds, and toning down homoerotic elements.
Instead of caving, Tierney – openly gay himself – respected author Rachel Reid’s source material. He adapted the Game Changers novels faithfully, and did not bow to conservative censorship. Where he did diverge from the book, he made choices which aligned with his vision for the story. This means clear and obvious consent in adult interactions, increased emotional nuance, and a whole lot of Canadian representation – right down to the indie-studded soundtrack.
Had the showrunner – who’d already reached critical acclaim directing previous project Letterkenny (2019) – listened to the execs and watered Heated Rivalry down, we would have a completely different show. Hollywood executives care about entertainment, but they care about money more. So, sure – in their view, playing it safer, following a formula, and not offending was a safer bet for financial return.
But why bother adapting the Canadian gay hockey romance, if you’re going to water down the Canadian, gay and romance?
In business, as well as entertainment (which is a business), you should stick to your guns and make the product you want to make. Yes, it’s important to do market research. Yes, you should ensure someone will want what you’re producing. But softening everything and playing it safe will make your product or service forgettable. Most customers will then opt for the trusted, familiar market leader instead of you.
In choosing to follow a vision and then executing it well, Heated Rivalry has shown us that backing your own creativity, honouring your ideas, and then performing with quality can create a cultural phenomenon. It’s higher-risk, but much higher reward (read: profits) for the brave. We small business owners should do this too.
Lesson 2: Do something different for goodness sake
For the past decade, mainstream film and TV has been littered with new shows and films – and most are trying to replicate the success of the early big hitters, instead of believing in an original concept. The late noughties and early 2010s gave us incredible film and television, but we’ve been in a bit of a slump ever since. Businesses and their copycats are the same, pumping out tried-and-tested trends instead of unique products and offerings. This needs to change.
In the early 2010s, Harry Potter ended and was followed by a spin-off in Fantastic Beasts. Breaking Bad wrapped up, and was followed by another spin-off, Better Call Saul. Game of Thrones ground to a disappointing finale, then, again, sprouted two spin-offs of its own. Disney made its last original Princess films and then pivoted into constant live-action remakes. Meanwhile, The Sopranos and The Wire, standalone and never revived, are now long gone, while Star Wars has been brought back from the dead and spun into like six different TV shows on Disney+.
Yeah. We haven’t had an original multi-season cultural juggernaut in a long time.
But now, in choosing Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry as his project – Jacob Tierney has given us an experience that’s fresh and unique again. He also gave us hope, by bringing a romance grounded in healthy masculine care and real communication to the TV screen. This week, psychotherapist Esther Perel even called the show “corrective” by showing gentle vulnerability in an age of nonchalance, toxic male behaviour, and romantic despair. But that wasn’t enough – in sticking to his guns (see Lesson 1), Tierney not only nailed his choice of subject, but executed the project well. And in doing both – choice and quality – he’s contributed to the renaissance of modern television drama.
Critically-acclaimed new TV shows have one constant theme: a fresh concept done well. Ted Lasso warmed our hearts with an American coach out of his depth in the UK football ecosystem. Schitt’s Creek (again Canadian) gave us humour and heart without relying on prejudice and stereotypes to set up the joke. Pluribus crafts a compelling narrative while bravely stepping out of the shadow of creator Vince Gilligan’s previous projects. The White Lotus and The Bear, meanwhile, deliver a jarring and memorable blend of drama and comedy (“These gays – they’re trying to kill me!” “I need some f***ing hands!!!!!”). And finally, Severance works by exploring a brand-new sci-fi concept in mainstream media – for the first time in what feels like decades.
The cherry on top is that each of these shows hired a fresh cast. Newcomers like Jeremy Allen White, Hannah Waddingham, and Dan Levy – and industry stalwarts like Jennifer Coolidge and Jason Sudeikis – were catapulted (or re-catapulted) into fame as a result of public fever. Seeing new faces is refreshing, because constant exposure to A-listers breaks the illusion of a story. I’m looking at you, every Timothee Chalamet movie.
In business, too, people are sick of seeing the same thing again and again. The amount of same-old businesses popping up is alarming, as is the number of virtually-identical online courses promising to change your financial fortune with a “proven formula”. And I don’t even want to talk about ChatGPT writing everyone’s content — no originality. No thought. No unique structure. Just punchy dribble and em dashes.
Applying the psychology of connection, communication, and correction to business takes things even further. What does this phenomenal public response to a new idea, say about your clients’ inner thoughts? What does it say about what we crave and wish for as humans? Could it mean there’s a better way to do business – and that it would probably make you more successful?
Keeping on the same old patterns is no different to the Hollywood execs telling Tierney to follow the formula to succeed. It is lazy, it is uncreative, it is old. Just do something different, if you want people to rave about your business. It’s 2026: the formula smells bad and needs a wash.
Lesson 3: Word of mouth will sell a great product automatically
I’m not saying don’t do marketing. I am saying if you thrill your clients and customers, they’ll do at least half your marketing for you.
Heated Rivalry has soared precisely thanks to its cult fan-base telling everyone they need to watch it. The hype spreads through the critics dissecting the episodes, the influencers posting their reactions on TikTok, the fans making reels, and then the news picking it up. It’s grassroots, and the discourse is impossible to escape from right now. Interviews with leads Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams only add fuel to the obsession fire.
While paid advertising and SEO do work well for small businesses, word of mouth is cheaper and arguably more effective. Heated Rivalry shows how having clients who are your biggest fans will sell way more of your products and services. It’ll also mean you get repeat work from existing customers, instead of having to advertise for fresh leads all the time. Constant cold advertising is expensive and time-consuming. Instead, what you want is people who’ll rewatch you five times.
My dad owned a business for decades (funnily enough, I didn’t actually know he owned it until after I’d already started my own business – I thought he was just a senior manager. Entrepreneurship is in the blood, it seems). Curious, I asked him once what advertising he was running, and he said none. He didn’t even have a website. He’d spent two decades operating a multi six-figure business through word of mouth. His reputation was so good that he’d get headhunted for projects. He would often have to turn them down or overstretch himself ’cause he was too busy.
I see a lot of people – mostly young men – get into business purely to make millions. It makes me feel physically ill, tbh. Not only do they have zero passion for their job – it’s just a strategy for financial freedom (vomit) – I believe these people are more likely to exploit others and be exploited. They’ll outsource jobs offshore so they can keep more cash for themselves, sell a subpar product so they can move onto the next source of revenue, and overcharge after charming their poor client on a sales call. They want to win – but due to their behaviour, they have zero raving fans or healthy, ongoing business relationships.
Short-term, this means high profits. Long-term, it means unsustainable business, and consumer distrust. It also tends to create motivation problems when work gets difficult, and discouragement or quitting when success is not immediate. I see this often, especially with new entrepreneurs trying to make it big on social media. Most quit after they don’t see large growth in a month.
Everyone’s favourite businesses are those with heart. They put people before profit, but NEVER sacrifice their charisma, personality, or sense of humour. Most customers can smell BS after repeat exposure, so taking advantage of clients or employees will harm your small business in the long term. Yes, big corporations do it and succeed. But they’ve got a pre-existing platform of success and customer trust to leverage (exploit).
You, small business owner, do not.
If you run a business ethically but pragmatically, you’ll often see better success. Caring for your clients means repeat work from existing prospects. Happy customers means zero-effort marketing as they go and tell all their friends about you. Honestly, I think this is the biggest business takeaway of all from Heated Rivalry‘s success – the importance of word-of-mouth in building an obsession. And to lightly digress, I feel the same about Beyonce’s haircare brand Cecred. I will tell anyone who wants to know (and many who don’t), how good that conditioner is. Bey doesn’t need to pay me a cent to do so.
See?
So as Heated Rivalry Season 2 and Season 3 come onto the cards, let’s wait and see how it performs. Let’s watch how Jacob Tierney handles the pressure of a second season with expectations this high. Let’s also see how a better budget impacts the quality of this surprise breakthrough, and find out if the cast and crew stick to their guns or sell out. And most of all, let’s watch how the discourse around this phenomenon continues to unfold – and whether it’s sustainable or short-lived.
I reckon Heated Rivalry will do just fine.