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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Re-posting this for visibility but wowwww OpalApparition apparently for real got a book deal due to the popularity of her AI-generated Heated Rivalry fics? Maybe? Assuming she wasn't lying to her then-friend and beta/copyeditor.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

1. Don't fucking use AI to write. 2. If you do, don't fucking slap anti-AI statements all over your AI slop. 3. And really for real especially don't repeatedly lie to your friend and have them edit your slop for you, especially when you know your friend hates AI-generated works.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Made my second vid for the Heated Rivalry ICE OUT charity fundraiser! Song is "Same Color as the Sun" by flor. Fellas, is it gay to treat each other's hearts and dicks like your own personal yo-yo for eight years? Asking for a friend whose name begins with S and ends with hane Hollander.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Make America 14th Century Again (plagues, endless unwinnable wars, we care about popes so fucking much for some reason)

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

The surge in dark romance in which possessiveness and obsession are synonymous with love reminded me of this mindblowing take by Racheline Maltese, which splits romance into 2 wings, liberation vs. compliance, as well as a subset of compliance called enforcement: avian30.com/2020/12/05/a...

avian30.com

About that liberation vs. compliance thing in more than 280 characters

Back in October (which, consider how 2020 is going might as well be another geologic age), I tweeted in response to the latest article about the romance genre that didn’t actually get what the roma…

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

I mean. I'm neither het nor a woman, but I'll just say that I'm deeply uninterested in sapphic Bridgerton because I'm uninterested in Bridgerton, period. The problem isn't lesbians. The problem is Bridgerton kinda sucks for all kinds of reasons I'm uninterested in going into.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Guess who's writing for Fandom Trumps Hate this year? It's a fandom charity event: bid on my writing services, get at least 5k words of fic or original work. Bidding closes March 7. I'm offering Heated Rivalry, among many other fandoms. Details here: www.tumblr.com/beautifulduc...

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Post by @beautifulduckweed · 3 images

💬 0 🔁 2 ❤️ 1 · Fandom Trumps Hate 2026 · What up, nerds! I'm writing for Fandom Trumps Hate this year. Types of fanworks: Written fanwork of any kind, including fic Highest Rating: E Audience: 1…

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I provided a ton of background on this and am quoted in it. I think Jung covered a lot of ground with nuance and thoughtfulness! Crucially, this is the first article I've read that talks substantively about the trans and nb experience of creating and consuming m/m www.vulture.com/article/heat...

vulture.com

Girls Who Love Boys Who Love Boys

When did everyone start fujoing out?

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Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · 15/02/2026

Oh, you want these romances, you say? Congrats, they exist! Historical bicycle riders: A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell Victorian werewolves: Soulless by Gail Carriger Queer dragon shifters: Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha (aka the horny dragon book) Hockey historical: Puck and Prejudice by Lia Riley

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

I made a Heated Rivalry vid/edit set to "All Is Full of Love"! Shane/Ilya; will hurt your feelings but in a good way?? Here's the version without lyrics: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYKL...

youtube.com

All is Full of Love (no lyrics) - A Heated Rivalry Vid

YouTube video by beautifulduckweed

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Thomas [DARK MODE], DO @tom.medsky.social · 27/01/2026

Downfall Bovino Edition. You're welcome.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Just tried to go to Wonderland magazine to look at the article and it won't load, I think we ddos'd these poor fuckers with our thirst. But for real tho, oh my god that photo with the lipstick kisses. Help. Helllpppp

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Tal Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

is it too late to call Bryan Fuller's Hannibal "Eated Rivalry"

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Arrête Mark Carney ⚜️ @lalegault.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

carly rae jepsen x heated rivalry

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Stellbound: Stellraiser II @antlervel.vet · 23/01/2026

Gotcha—let’s dig into that step by step. 1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish. 2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Me: Man I could really use some fun internet drama instead of dumbshit freakouts over who Connor Storrie or Hudson Williams are or are not dating *finger on monkey's paw curls* So how's the petty internecine feuding between hockey podcast bros treating y'all today

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Smart Bitches @smartbitches.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

GUESS WHAT, Y'ALL. Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social is BACK to talk Heated Rivalry, this show that literally no one has heard of. She did some majestic recapping, but was that enough? Ha. No. We had much to discuss. Want to listen? Join us! bit.ly/702HeatedRiv...

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Listening to the Drop Your Buffs debrief with What Chaos on Heated Rivalry, and at one point one of the What Chaos dudes mentioned how White Lotus sucks sometimes and I was like YES YES SAY IT LOUDER youtu.be/FLI36t1ZAaI, and then Evan Ross Katz was like, point out which episodes sucked

youtu.be

Heated Rivalry Post-Mortem with What Chaos!

YouTube video by Drop Your Buffs

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The Athletic @theathletic.com · 16/01/2026

“Heated Rivalry” actor François Arnaud called on the NHL to improve its relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Jesus Christ some Hudcon shippers are losing their actual minds over Connor Storrie maaaaybe dating Francois Arnaud, huh? Y'all these people aren't your dollies, leave them the fuck alone. Like, the only response I would have if it turns out to be true is high-fiving them both for scoring hotties.

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Jane @jane.meangirls.online · 04/01/2026

Jordan Firstman:

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

In an ocean of bad-faith Heated Rivalry takes full of specious arguments and cherrypicked facts, Salon has published one so rancid that I need to pick it apart. Don't worry, I'm not female or a woman, so I love it the right amount and also I get to be as angry and as mean as I want 😌.

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smallest church @smallestchurch.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

yuna (saying goodbye after learning ilya’s fucking her son and wanting to make him feel at home): and ilya, i just want to say, i’ve talked a lot of shit about you over the years, and … you should know i’m not sorry. about any of it shane: MOM, GOD ilya (through tears): thank you. that means a lot

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Thanks to Heated Rivalry, people are asking why so many women are writing and reading m/m romance. Not only is that a boring question, it's backwards. Why shouldn't women (and women-adjacent people) be doing this? Also: why aren't men reading and writing more genres that center love and HEAs?

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Now that Heated Rivalry s1 has wrapped up I've been coping by listening to episode recaps by the finest hockey bros in all the land, i.e. What Chaos and Empty Netters, and I am so charmed by these guys, who are diving head-first into a genre they have zero experience with, but also. Also.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Christ am i going to buy a paper copy of a magazine for the first time in 25 years

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Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

This story Carl Nassib told on RC's pod about coming out in the NFL cracked me up. His delivery is so good!

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sleemo @sleemo.com · 16/12/2025

Saw this quote from Jacob Tierney and I thought about the episodes of Degrassi that were never allowed to air in the US. The show would not have been the same! #HeatedRivalry

How would Heated Rivalry have been different if it were made in the U.S.?

We would have waited the entire season to see a kiss. That's what would have happened. We definitely would not have had sex in the first episode. It would have been about a whole team with 20 other players and their wives and anything to dilute the essence of what this was. We had one executive tell us, "What this show really needs is a female main character."

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Jacob Tierney owes me emotional damages after last night's episode of Heated Rivalry. OK back to my third rewatch byeeeeee

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Jamie McKelvie @mckelvie.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Tinker Swift, Taylor Swift, Soldier Swift, Spy Swift

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Smart Bitches @smartbitches.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

IT IS THE BARE MINIMUM OF THEIR ENTIRE JOB AS A PUBLISHER. PUBLISH. BOOKS. Truly embarrassing own goal here. They're just one big empty net operation.

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Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · 10/12/2025

The past couple weeks as a professional romance critic begging someone to let me, a professional romance critic who wrote the sports romance list for the NYT and a Letterkenny fan for years, write about the gay hockey romance adaptation. Put me in, coach, I’ve trained my whole life for this!

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Sara @sportsandsuffering.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

For those of you watching 🏒The Gay Hockey Show™️—aka Heated Rivalry—allow me to go on a neurodivergent rant about how Connor Storrie’s Russian language work is so stunningly perfect that it makes me feel like I have wasted a decade of my life. We begin with this chart and the worst/best vowel ever! 🧵

An excerpt from Anton Belov’s guide to Russian Diction with a lowercase i with a horizontal slash through it circled in pink highlighter

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Ryan Bloom @blazehedgehog.bltn.net · 05/12/2025

Instead of a song being stuck in my head, today what's stuck in my head is the "fuck ya life. bing-bong!" pigeon video.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Wrote about Heated Rivalry for Smart Bitches: smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/12/heat... I was thinking more about the quality of the acting we're getting in this show--how the two leads completely disappear into their characters, and how rare a gift that is. So few actors achieve this!

smartbitchestrashybooks.com

Heated Rivalry: The Unbearable Lightness of Having a Dump-Truck Ass | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

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Matt @mbunchanumbers.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

We got Weird Al out here singing Killing In The Name, the time for moderation is over

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Had a lot of feelings about Heated Rivalry episode 3 and posted them, at unconscionable length, on my Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/beautifulduc... The tl;dr is: I loved it. I think it set out to do a few different things (make us care about Scott/Kip; show us isolation vs community), and it did it well.

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Post by @beautifulduckweed

💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · Lot of mixed reactions to the third episode of Heated Rivalry, and I can totally understand. Look, I'm absolute trash for Shane and Ilya, too. I get it. We only got a few fleeting…

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BJ ColanGIALLO @bjcolangelo.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

There's a lot of talk about the steaminess of #HeatedRivalry, but there are more reasons to watch. Jacob Tierney's direction and the microexpression work of the actors is sublime — especially as mainstream American-produced streaming prioritizes "passive viewing." www.slashfilm.com/2043077/cana...

slashfilm.com

Canada's Heated Rivalry Destroys The Worst Trend Of American Streaming TV - SlashFilm

The hit Canadian series Heated Rivalry is a breath of fresh air in a streaming landscape actively suffocating its audiences.

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Y'all this past week I've seen some baffling takes on Heated Rivalry by people who have zero knowledge or enjoyment of romance novels, romance narratives, or sex scenes as a storytelling device. "Uh where's the romance? Why are they boning so much???"

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ben driscoll @daisyowl.com · 24/11/2025

maybe i am going insane

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Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

I've officially written something so deranged that it might make it into one of my favorite authors' deathbed musings, that's gotta unlock some kind of achievement, right

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