‘Heated Rivalry’: The Devastating Fan Theory About Ilya & Shane’s Future
What To Know
- Crave’s Heated Rivalry is based on Rachel Reid’s book of the same name.
- Reid wrote a sequel, The Long Game, that continues Shane and Ilya’s romance.
- A popular fan theory suggests Ilya may face a tragic future.
[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Heated Rivalry and The Long Game by Rachel Reid.]
Heated Rivalry is only just getting started, as is Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov’s (Connor Storrie) romance. Their love story plays out over about a decade in author Rachel Reid’s books about them, Heated Rivalry and The Long Game. The latter gives Hollanov the happy ending they deserve — but a new fan theory has us wondering whether their future could take a tragic turn.
Before we get into it, let’s revisit where Shane and Ilya end up in The Long Game. They undergo some trials and tribulations, of course, but their journey’s conclusion couldn’t be more picture-perfect. Though they don’t get to come out on their own terms, Shane and Ilya work with the cards they’re dealt. Once their relationship is public knowledge, Shane and Ilya get married and play hockey for the same team. During their wedding, Shane muses that things are as good as they’ll ever be. The final line of the book (before the epilogue) is Ilya countering that the best is yet to come.
All signs hopefully point to Hollanov’s long, happy future together, right? Well, ever since we read Heated Rivalry and its sequel, we’ve seen a depressing fan prediction pop up more than once on our social media feed, and if we had to be subjected to it, so do you! One TikTok user summed it up perfectly: “Watching Heated Rivalry is fun until you realize Ilya’s dad has dementia,” @lexiegracelin captioned their video.
Ilya’s dad is officially been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the book. In Season 1, we’ve already started to see signs of Grigori Rozanov’s (Yaroslav Poverlo) deteriorating mental state. In Episode 2, he forgets that Ilya’s mother died. If the show continues to closely follow the book, Ilya’s dad will die of Alzheimer’s complications soon. So, how does this all connects to Shane and Ilya’s future? Well, as fans have pointed out, Alzheimer’s can be hereditary.
Not only that, but the fact that Ilya pushes his body to the limit playing professional hockey doesn’t help matters. Studies show that those that participate in contact sports are more likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease. “He plays hockey where fights and hits make his brain damaged and weaker… as well as drinks and smokes… significantly increasing his risk even more,” the fan’s theory continues. They correctly add that depression — which Ilya is diagnosed with in The Long Game — is a symptom of early-onset Alzheimer’s.
The user concludes their theory with one last devastating blow: “Even if he falls in love with Shane, eventually he won’t recognize him or will lose to depression first.” (Stab us in the heart, why don’t you!)
Hopefully we’ll never see such a thing come to pass, on screen or on the page. At least we know that creator Jacob Tierney has rejected the idea of incorporating the “bury your gays” trope into the show. And if Reid writes a third book about Shane and Ilya — fingers crossed — we have to hope she doesn’t go for realism. In our minds, Shane and Ilya are happy and in love until they’re old and grey, and we’ll accept no other outcome!
What are your thoughts on this theory? Let us know in the comments below.
Heated Rivalry, Season 1, New Episodes, Fridays, HBO Max
