Exclusive Interview

‘Heated Rivalry’: Are Scott and Kip Still Together? François Arnaud & Robbie G.K. Say…

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers from Heated Rivalry Episodes 1-3.]

Though most of it plays out like a rom-com, Heated Rivalry‘s third episode doesn’t have a happy ending and leaves Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) and Kip Grady’s (Robbie G.K.) romantic future up in the air.

The bottle episode veers from the complicated relationship between hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), turning its focus instead toward the sweet love story between Arnaud’s closeted hockey veteran and G.K.’s smoothie barista/aspiring grad student. They’re the primary couple in Game Changer, another book in author Rachel Reid’s series that the show is based on.

In a joint Swooon interview with his costar, G.K. explained that Scott has the career side of his life figured out, but he doesn’t have himself figured out like Kip does, which is where the attraction partly comes from. “Kip really has a core group of friends and a great support system through his parents,” he added. “And I think he kind of sees the humanity in Scott with everything stripped away, and sees it as like, these are two puzzle pieces that could really kind of complete each other.”

Their whirlwind romance starts off with a meet-cute at Kip’s workplace, with Scott returning to buy Kip’s smoothies before every home game. “The chemistry and the banter and the attraction’s there, so I think it just makes sense to Kip,” G.K. continued, joking also that “being 6’1″ and having millions of dollars doesn’t hurt either.”

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On Scott’s part, Arnaud noted, “Even though [Scott] has been repressing that part of himself for that long, there’s something about Kip that brings out immediately in Scott this kind of emotional availability. He’s pretty forward in his flirtation with him, and I think that they both meet on that level where there’s something obvious about their connection beyond all the things that may hinder it.”

Despite their sugary-sweet beginning, viewers leave the couple on a “heartbreaking” note (Arnaud’s descriptor) in Episode 3. Though Scott and Kip are serious about each other, with them exchanging “I love yous” and essentially living together in only a few months, keeping their relationship behind closed doors takes a toll on Kip.

The tension comes to a head in the final few scenes after the couple attends the same charity event, though not as each other’s dates. At Scott’s apartment afterward, the hockey player turns down Kip’s invitation to his birthday party, not ready to take that step as much as he wants to. Deciding that he can’t keep lying to his loved ones, Kip opts to put some space between himself and his boyfriend.

So, are they still together? Their conversation isn’t necessarily a breakup, but it does leave their fate on a cliffhanger. G.K. didn’t read it as an argument between the couple, either. He added, “I think it was kind of two tracks running parallel, hoping for an intersection, and there just isn’t that coming.”

Arnaud pointed out where Scott takes off his rose-colored glasses when it comes to their relationship. “There’s something that happens in that conversation with Elena [Nadine Bhabha] on the dance floor, where she does take Scott a little bit by surprise by saying that she sees how miserable Kip is, and I think he takes in, for the first time, the sacrifices,” he said.

The actor admitted that his character has been a bit selfish up until that point, despite having given up a lot over the years for his career and risking a lot by being with Kip, even in secret. “I don’t think he’s taken in how much he would be asking of Kip to just embrace that situation for years,” Arnaud said. “He’s essentially asking someone else to go back in the closet.”

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G.K. explained, “Kip is so well grounded within his community and that side of him, I don’t think he wants to lose that, or forfeit that after probably working years to develop that, so I think Kip sees [where they leave things] as… I don’t want to say, ‘I’m here when you’re ready,’ but also, I don’t know. It’s one of those relationships that I feel like there’s such a good connection that that flame never goes away.”

(It’s also basically impossible for Kip to forget about Scott, even if he might want to, the actor pointed out. The hockey player is constantly in the media.)

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'Heated Rivalry' Star Teases Scott & Kip's Future in Final Season 1 Episodes

The conversation isn’t the episode’s final twist of the knife. Later, Scott goes to the bar where Kip’s celebrating his birthday, watching the group through the window before he turns away. “I think he went there maybe considering the possibility of walking in, and when he chooses not to, it’s not only to not out himself, but it is, in a way, kind of accepting that he can’t give Kip what he needs and wants,” Arnaud said. “Kip has been clear about that, and I have to let him go for now.”

There are only three episodes left in the season, which will reveal whether or not Scott and Kip can find their way back to each other — though Shane and Ilya will come back into focus. Though Arnaud described the Episode 3 shift as “a bit jarring for everybody,” he considers it as a risk that paid off.

“There’s so much love that we’ve been getting, and I think that people do respond to that story, [it] is a little bit more hard on its sleeve and less… Even though Scott is still in the closet, he’s not repressing that desire within himself. And so they’re both available for that connection and that meeting, whereas the other guys are… It’s a long journey. And so I think that people really responded to that,” the actor said.

Heated Rivalry, Season 1, Fridays, HBO Max