“My dad hasn’t seen it, and I’m not asking him to see it,” the actor behind closeted player Ilya Rozanov said.

Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie reveals his parents’ reaction to his steamy gay hockey hit

"My dad hasn't seen it, and I'm not asking him to see it," the actor behind closeted player Ilya Rozanov said.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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January 14, 2026 1:07 p.m. ET

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Connor Storrie in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2026. Credit:

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

- Connor Storrie says his dad still hasn't seen his steamy gay hockey show, *Heated Rivalry*.

- "I don't think he needs to see it if he doesn't want to," the actor added.

- Storrie's mom, however, is his "number-one supporter."

*Heated Rivalry* has taken the world by storm — but the father of one of its stars still hasn't jumped on the bandwagon.

Connor Storrie, who plays Russian closeted hockey player Ilya Rozanov on the hit romance series, discussed his family's reaction to its explosive popularity during an interview with Craig Melvin on *Today.*

"My mom is my number -one supporter," he said on Wednesday's show. "My family's crazy. From a young age, when I was like, 'I wanna be in movies' and stuff, they were like, 'Yeah, go do it!' They've always believed in me, and I think it's probably pretty surreal to watch things like this happen."

However, Storrie revealed that his father hasn't weighed in yet on the steamy queer series, which features several scenes of the actor nude as he seduces and hooks up with his love interest, fellow closeted hockey player Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams).

"My dad hasn't seen it, and I'm not asking him to see it," the actor said. "I don't think he needs to see it if he doesn't want to."

Connor Storrie on 'Heated Rivalry'.

Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

Storrie also reflected on how the streaming era has diffused media so dramatically that it's easy for people, including his parents, to completely miss out on popular shows and films.

"Streaming and the way that television and movies work now is so different than it was, even when I was little," he said. "Even me sometimes, I'm like, 'Oh, this isn't real because I don't see it on commercials, necessarily, and I don't see it on billboards.'"

He continued, "When I was little, we all had specific channels, and it was like, you only see the movie stars on these things. And now that streaming is a thing, it's not the same. We don't take media the same way, so it doesn't always feel real."

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In a conversation with ** in December, Storrie expressed similar sentiments about his perception of the show's popularity. "Even before the show was coming out, my algorithm, anything online has been so geared towards *Heated Rivalry* that I've convinced myself this is just my device," he said. "Then the moment I came back from Canada, every single day I feel like someone's stopping me and being like, 'I love the show.'"

Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams on 'Heated Rivalry'.

Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

Storrie's costar Williams also said he was skeptical about the show's mainstream appeal. "We were doubting the reception of it because we were like, 'We're just in some bubble. This is just what we're hearing because we're in it. Our algorithms are just catering to us,'" he explained in the same EW interview. "But I'm in L.A. now and we've been stopped in the street. And then I was recently in Whistler in Vancouver and people are coming up."

He continued, "It's now starting to hit that maybe it's not a micro-bubble and it's becoming this bigger thing, but even then I can't really fathom it. But it sure means a lot."

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*Heated Rivalry* is streaming now on HBO Max.

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