{"id":438083,"date":"2026-01-26T07:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438083\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T07:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:05:09","slug":"heated-rivalry-stars-hudson-williams-and-connor-storrie-carry-olympic-torch-as-milano-cortina-2026-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438083\/","title":{"rendered":"Heated Rivalry stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie carry Olympic torch as Milano Cortina 2026 looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s hard to believe that just t\ufeffwo months ago, the world didn’t know the names Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie.<\/p>\n

Right now, it’s not an overstatement to say they’re two of the most, if not the most, talked-about celebrities<\/a> in the entertainment world.<\/p>\n

Thanks to their roles in the hit series Heated Rivalry<\/a>, which dropped in late November, Williams and Storrie have millions of fans<\/a> following their every move.<\/p>\n

\"HeatedJust t\ufeffwo months ago, the world didn’t know the names Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. (Penske Media via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

They’ve appeared on talk shows<\/a>, scored invites to A-list events including Milan Fashion Week<\/a> and had the honour of presenting an award at the 2026 Golden Globes<\/a>. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Now, their explosion to fame has reached new heights, with the actors taking part in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic torch relay overnight.<\/p>\n

Watch the video above.<\/p>\n

Williams and Storrie \u2013 who play rival ice hockey players entangled in a secret romance in Heated Rivalry \u2013 beamed as they carried the torch through Feltre, Italy on Sunday, dressed in pink and white Olympic tracksuits.<\/p>\n

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\ufeff”This is crazy,” Williams is heard saying in one video posted by the official Olympics Instagram page.<\/p>\n

The stars’ role as torchbearers was announced on Tuesday last week.<\/p>\n

\ufeffHeated Rivalry, the Canadian series based on Rachel Reid’s queer romance novel series Game Changer, centres on the relationship between two rival ice hockey players \u2013 Canadian Shane Hollander (Williams) and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Storrie).<\/p>\n

The show, airing on HBO Max in Australia, was released on November 28 and \ufeffbecame an overnight hit, winning a feverish following thanks in no small part to its sex scenes.<\/p>\n

To say the series has inspired online hysteria would be putting it mildly.<\/p>\n

Many of us have found our social media feeds flooded with hot-and-heavy clips from the show and moments from the stars’ press interviews.<\/p>\n

It’s also spurred a huge wave in interest in Reid’s books, with two instalments in the series selling out in Australia<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffWilliams and Storrie were both unknowns when they landed their roles, and had been waiting tables at the time of the auditions.<\/p>\n

It seems that common ground is helping them come to terms with their meteoric rise.<\/p>\n

Last month, Storrie told W magazine<\/a> he “literally can’t fathom doing this without” his Heated Rivalry co-star and “best friend”.<\/p>\n

\"TORONTO,The two actors have exploded to fame, thanks to their roles in queer romance series Heated Rivalry. (Getty)<\/p>\n

“We were both in similar places in life before this. We quit our jobs within a day of each other. We booked this and flew out the same day,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Now it’s turning into two people who are being seen internationally for the first time.<\/p>\n

“This has been the highlight of my life, and meeting Hudson makes that 10 times sweeter.”<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s hard to believe that just t\ufeffwo months ago, the world didn’t know the names Hudson Williams and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-438083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}