‘Heated Rivalry’ finally brings the ‘boy aquarium’ to thirsty gay Brits this January
The hottest show of the moment will hit UK TV screens in the same month that British hockey teams celebrate Pride Weekend. The post ‘Heated Rivalry’ finally brings the ‘boy aquarium’ to thirsty gay Brits this January appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
“Anyone up for a trip to the boy aquarium?”
That’s how broadcaster Sky teased its announcement that smash-hit gay hockey TV show “Heated Rivalry” will launch in the UK and Ireland on Jan. 10.
If (like me) you missed the “boy aquarium” meme, it has its roots in the steamy hockey romance genre, which is truly having its breakthrough moment with the hot six-parter’s success.
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The hit, steamy gay TV show ‘Heated Rivalry’ has been confirmed for Season 2, surely with plenty more pantsless scenes with the stars.
TikTok creators have playfully ‘rebranded’ rinks as places where you can press your face against the glass and gawp at the beautiful creatures gliding around on the other side.
It’s all rather silly, but could spark something seriously good for British teams.
While hockey in the UK isn’t as big as a lot of other sports, crowds are already rising. The 1.25 million milestone was reached in 2024/25, the highest cumulative season attendance in the Elite Ice Hockey League’s history.
It means a hardcore fanbase is already firmly in place, so any sort of cultural spark that could ignite a surge of new support is well worth embracing.
“Heated Rivalry” certainly has that energy. Until now, British fans interested in the show have had to make do with screenshots and clips on social media. So Sky TV’s confirmation of a “steamy upgrade” for its post-holiday season is being widely welcomed.
@hellosky Your winter just got a steamy upgrade. You can thank us later ???? #HeatedRivalry ♬ original sound – Sky
One fan whose tweet was reposted by the broadcaster said she was “doing cartwheels” at the news. Another commented on Facebook to say that viewers should prepare to be “emotionally destroyed.”
Meanwhile, for LGBTQ people involved in hockey day-to-day in the UK, the imminent arrival of “Heated Rivalry” must feel particularly timely.
January 2026 will see the EIHL celebrate its sixth Pride Weekend. The initiative began in 2020, and apart from the following season when the league was in shutdown, it has been marked annually.
While “Heated Rivalry” has an obvious appeal in its central characters — two very fit gay guys enjoying risky business with each other — there are other storylines that are helping to break down masculinity in sports.
It means the conversations that “Heated Rivalry” will no doubt generate in the UK should focus attention on why the league talks about LGBTQ inclusion at this time every January.
Zach Sullivan is the EIHL’s only publicly out player. At the start of this year, he told Outsports that the activation was at risk of “becoming tokenistic” because some teams were wearing rainbow-colored jerseys without meaningfully engaging with their local LGBTQ community groups.
On that same theme, Sullivan appears in a short documentary that’s just been released called “Pride. On Ice?”, created and directed by Will Shepherd.
The film provides valuable context for those interested in the culture of British hockey, and how a homophobic comment made by an announcer at an EIHL game in 2017 sparked an inaugural Pride Night in Cardiff, and then the first Pride Weekend three years later.
It inspired Sullivan to say in a social media post that he’s bi. In doing so, he became one of the first players in professional men’s hockey anywhere in the world to come out as LGBTQ.
It’s well known that there has never been out gay or bi representation on the ice in NHL history. It’s the only major men’s pro league in the U.S. to which this still applies.
There hasn’t even yet been a referee known to be from the community who has officiated a game, while Luke Prokop, the first out player to be contracted to an NHL team, continues to wait for his chance to play in the league. The Canadian is currently with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, the affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers.
“Heated Rivalry” has already served as a reminder about the lack of LGBTQ representation in the world’s most-watched ice hockey league. For Sullivan, who regularly feels that weight of responsibility, it matters that leagues like the EIHL don’t hide away from that as well, even if they wear their rainbows more boldly than their cousins across the pond.
He says in the documentary: “There are very few people my age who are publicly out as gay or bisexual or LGBT+ who still actively play sports, whether that be at a professional level or an amateur level.
“And I do think that’s a concern, and it should be a concern that sport is not inclusive enough.”
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The post ‘Heated Rivalry’ finally brings the ‘boy aquarium’ to thirsty gay Brits this January appeared first on Outsports.
