Hudson Williams & Francois Arnaud Call Out 'Heated Rivalry' Fandom

Todd Williamson/Shutterstock for The Actor Awards

Shane Hollander and Scott Hunter are taking a stand. Since the wildly popular hockey romance Heated Rivalry premiered at the end of 2025, its fandom has grown from a quirky little niche group into full-blown messy stan wars. While the sudden success has made instant stars out of leads Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie, and François Arnaud, it has also hit them with intense, unexpected backlash from the very people who claim to love the series. Although they remained quiet about the online furor for a while, Williams and Arnaud called out the toxic fans in a joint statement on March 9.