Ask anyone and their gay best friend, and chances are they’ve either watched Heated Rivalry, heard about it, or at least know the names Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. The two actors have been fixtures on red carpets and all over our feeds for months, so becoming a little obsessed with the hockey boys is completely understandable.
But when a show becomes this big, sometimes the line between loving the characters and getting curious about the actors’ real lives can get a little blurry.
Sorry, But Williams Is Taken
If you somehow missed it, Williams is in a long-term relationship with tattoo artist Katelyn Rose Larson. The actor hard-launched their relationship on Valentine’s Day in February, sharing a photo with Larson and writing, “Happy Valentine’s Day,” followed by a sweet reference to how long they’ve been together: “With me since my 2000 gold Mazda protege smoked and squealed and I had no job.”
The couple has otherwise kept their relationship relatively low-key online, which is probably why the Valentine’s Day post got plenty of attention from curious fans.
And while being interested in the actor behind one of television’s hottest new characters is hardly surprising, Larson recently found herself having to clarify where that curiosity becomes a little too personal.
READ: The ‘Heated Rivalry’ Star Drew a Hard Line After Fans Took Things Too Far
Larson Has a Message for Fans
Larson, who works as a tattoo artist, shared an Instagram Story on September 22 saying that a couple of people had recently crossed some boundaries.
Importantly, she wasn’t telling Heated Rivalry fans to stay away from her studio altogether. In fact, she specifically acknowledged that people discovering the artists through the show is completely fine if they genuinely like their work and want a tattoo.
But she drew a very clear line:
“this is where i draw a very hard line: booking an appointment with me or anyone else purely because of the connection to the show crosses a huge boundary. showing up to your appointment and asking my coworkers any sort of questions about myself or about hudson is hugely uncomfortable for everyone. with peace and love, please stop.”
Fair enough.
There is nothing wrong with discovering a tattoo artist because you learned about them through someone you follow. But turning an appointment into an opportunity to ask about Williams or his relationship is understandably a different experience for the people actually working there.
When the Show Follows You Into Real Life
The Heated Rivalry phenomenon has been massive. Williams and Storrie have become fixtures of pop culture, with their chemistry as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov giving fans plenty to talk about both on and off screen.
And honestly, we get it. The internet loves a good fictional romance, and the two actors have given fans plenty of reasons to keep refreshing their feeds.
But the characters are fictional, while Williams, Storrie, and Larson are very much real people.
It’s perfectly fine to adore Williams. It’s fine to swoon over his chemistry with Storrie. It’s fine to be curious about the actor behind Shane.
The gentle reminder here is simply that fandom can stay fun without needing to become an all-access pass to someone’s personal life.
Because as much as we love Heated Rivalry, not every part of the Heated Rivalry universe needs to exist IRL.