Rising Actor Discusses Unscripted Sex Scene Moments In Globally Popular Series — And Their Parents’ Reactions

Recently, the Crave and HBO+ series Heated Rivalry has been a hot topic.

The series is based on the Game Changers series and tells the story of two rival professional hockey players who have a secret romance behind the scenes. American actor Connor Storrie plays the role of Ilya Rozano, while half-Korean, half-British and Dutch actor Hudson Williams plays Shane Hollander.

While the plot of the series has been praised, the show’s sex scenes have been hotly discussed due to the chemistry between the lead actors.

In a recent interview with Variety, Storrie discussed the many intimate scenes, including how they were filmed.

When asked whether the scenes were scripted, Storrie stated that they were, but that some parts were more or less ad-libbed based on previous conversations about consent. He added that a lot of the intricate details, some of what viewers most enjoy, are the pair “organically feeling” in the moment.

Everything is scripted. Yeah, there are some oohs and ohs that we put in there. The things that aren’t fully scripted are some of our touches, some of our body kisses and stuff, and that just came down to establishing a bunch of boundaries beforehand. There are levels to everything, right? Where are you allowed to be touched? What type of kisses are you allowed to do? And what do you wear to give you proper protection in any moment, depending on the act? There’s a closed-mouth kiss. There’s an open-mouth kiss. There’s an open-mouth kiss with tongue. There’s a hardcore open-mouth, prolonged kiss with tongue. You can wear pants. You can wear shorts. You can wear a G-string. You can wear layers. You can wear bike shorts that have padding. You can wear neoprene. There are levels to it. […] So all those little intricate kisses, touches in between moments, a lot of that is just us organically feeling into that moment.

— Connor Storrie

He also shared the reactions of both his and Williams’ mothers to the show’s explicit scenes, saying that his own mom had not yet watched the scenes. According to Storrie, when he asked Williams’s mother her thoughts about the scenes during the show’s premiere, she said she had to “cover her eyes” for most of it.

Hudson’s mom, too. We were at the premiere, and I was like, ‘So, what did you think seeing it on the big screen?’ And she was like, ‘Oh, I had to cover my eyes for most of it,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’ That must be weird, huh?

— Connor Storrie

The series was recently renewed for a second season.