New Delhi: Women in the US and the UK have said that the sports romance TV show Heated Rivalry inspired them to leave their husbands or long-term partners by making them question what they wanted from the relationship.
In a report published on Wednesday, Elle spoke to four women who compared their relationships with the romance between rival ice hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov in the drama. They said the series made them realise that desire, trust, and emotional support were missing from their own partnerships. The report said that dozens of women had shared similar accounts on fan forums and social media.
Annie, a 38-year-old teacher, decided to leave her husband after watching the season finale.
“When I was young, I believed in love like [Shane and Ilya’s], and then somewhere along the way life got so hard that I settled for far less. And I just didn’t want to go home to a partner who didn’t even care about me anymore,” she said.
Louise, a 40-year-old mother in the UK, ended her decade-long relationship with her fiancé.
“It made me start looking at my own relationship and how I had become a mother and maid to a man I had no passion toward and who had no passion toward me,” Louise said.
Suzie, a retired US Air Force reservist in Kansas, had already been considering separation after nearly 25 years of marriage but had been leaning toward staying. Seeing the emotional support in the relationships depicted in the series convinced her to leave.
“He just can’t access his feelings. He just can’t,” Suzie said about her husband.
Danielle, a 35-year-old wife and mother from the American Midwest, left her husband of 13 years after the series made her realise that she received little emotional support in the marriage.
“Watching Heated Rivalry made me realise just how terribly alone and invisible I felt,” Danielle said.
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‘A catalyst’
Noëlle Santorelli, a licensed clinical psychologist and adjunct faculty member at Emory University School of Medicine, told Elle that books, films, and television programmes sometimes make people reconsider their relationships. Most do not go on to leave their partners, but the stories can make them take a closer look at problems that already exist.
“It is a catalyst to help them reevaluate what is going well and not well in their relationships,” Santorelli said.
Created by Jacob Tierney and adapted from Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel of the same name, Heated Rivalry follows Shane and Ilya’s years-long secret relationship. The series premiered in November 2025 and became available in India on Lionsgate Play in February 2026.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)