‘Canadian at its core’: Canadian Embassy in PH prides Heated Rivalry craze

Philippine Canadian Inquirer
February 5, 2026

(Photo courtesy: Embassy of Canada in the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — The Canadian Embassy in the Philippines has equally thrown its weight behind the recent national celebration and exposure for queer hockey romance series #HeatedRivalry, describing the breakthrough show as “Canadian at its core”.

All the way from writer-director-producer Jacob Tierney, the original book author Rachel Reid, the shootings located in Ontario, to the endearing Kamloops-born actor Hudson Williams.

The embassy added that the series was funded by the Canada Media Fund, which is an initiative that receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite, and IPTV distributors, fostering, developing, financing, and promoting the production of Canadian content for all media platforms.

Prime Minister Mark Carney previously commended the global success of the queer series in a Canadian Media Producers Association’s (CMPA) Prime Time conference in Ottawa, saying Heated Rivarly is “a true Made in Canada phenomenon”.