Exclusive Interview
‘Heated Rivalry’: What Happened Between Scott & Kip Off-Screen Before Their Big Kiss?
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers from Heated Rivalry Episodes 1-5.]
Scott (François Arnaud) and Kip (Robbie G.K.) get their big kiss in Heated Rivalry Episode 5, which didn’t surprise those familiar with Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series. What did surprise readers, however, is the long stretch of off-camera time the show puts between Scott and Kip’s sort-of breakup and their public coming out. So, Swooon asked Arnaud and G.K. if they could fill in the gaps.
First, allow us to explain and recap. It takes only a few months for Scott and Kip to fall in love in Episode 3. By the end, keeping Scott a secret from his loved ones is taking a toll on Kip. They arrive at an impasse when Kip invites Scott to his birthday party, and the latter explains it’ll be a few years before he’s ready for anyone to know about them. After that, Kip takes some space from his boyfriend. Knowing he can’t give Kip what he needs, Scott “has to let him go for now,” said Arnaud.
That all happens in 2014, so when Kip goes to Scott’s playoff game in Episode 5, about three years have passed. When we spoke to Arnaud in a joint interview with G.K., he anticipated that one of our questions would be what Scott and Kip get up to between Episodes 3 and 5, since Episode 4 is dedicated entirely to Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya’s (Connor Storrie) overlapping story. “I’m not quite sure,” Arnaud said. “But I feel like I know Kip is there [at the game]. I want him to be there, but I had absolutely no intention of bringing him down onto the ice until that moment [after Scott wins the Stanley Cup].”
Their book, Game Changer, puts Scott and Kip’s relationship on a quicker timeline, taking place in 2017 entirely. There’s still some of that third-act angst when Kip distances himself from his boyfriend for the same reason that he does in the show, but they resolve things in a matter of days. They agree to figure out next steps after the playoffs. As the Admirals head toward the final game, Scott comes out to his closest teammates and meets Kip’s parents. He even goes on a date with Kip in public. Then Scott plants a kiss on Kip on the ice.
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The show skips over all of that and goes straight for Scott and Kip’s big moment, but did creator Jacob Tierney ever tell the actors what happened between their characters during their break? Did they envision it themselves? “I feel like they checked in periodically, like a message here and there,” Arnaud said in response to our line of questioning. “I feel like Scott would have sent, like a ‘Hey, I think I’d like you to be there if you’re okay with that.’ You know, at the game. But in my heart, not really any more than that.”
G.K. agreed with his costar. “I could see Kip not really putting too much energy into it and replying to every single message,” he said. “Because I could see there being a message or two from Scott-type deal. Maybe a big lull in between that, after the whole birthday thing happens, and then to what Francois said, that maybe like a ‘Hey, this is a big game, and I have tickets, and it’d be fun for… maybe you and your dad or something outside of me, just come for fun and whatever, because I know that you guys like it.’ And I think maybe Kip throws him a bone and chooses to show up.”
On whether or not Kip has decided to move on by the time he goes to Scott’s game, the actor said, “I don’t think that there’s really a distinct moment where he’s saying, ‘I’m moving on’ for sure, but I think that if there was a towel being thrown in, I think it would have happened a lot earlier,” G.K. answered. “I think after that conversation at Scott’s apartment, where he says ‘in a couple of years,’ I think that’s the moment where, really, the kind of the final — I don’t know, I’m trying to think of analogies here — but like the final heartbreak of, ‘Wow, this really is not going to change most likely.'”
Arnaud chimed in, “There’s such a vast difference between what is a long time for Kip, and what’s the time for Scott. And I think Scott hears it through your [Kip’s] ears when I say, ‘Maybe a couple years down the line. And then I totally hear how it sounds to someone like you — like Kip — who’s already just living his life freely.”
It did take years in the end, but as Elena (Nadine Bhabha) would put it, Scott and Kip found their sunshine. Now that their relationship has come to light, what’s next for the couple? That remains to be seen, but Arnaud told Swooon that their kiss on the ice isn’t the last we’ll see of Scott and Kip in Season 1.
What are your predictions for them in the finale? Leave a comment below!
Heated Rivalry, Season 1 Finale, Friday, December 26, HBO Max
