Heated Rivalry Finds Pirated Audience in China Amid Crackdown

Heated Rivalry has become a major pirated hit in China, briefly topping Douban and remaining in the platform's top 10 despite not being legally available and generating no revenue for Crave, driven by danmei fan communities and readers of Rachel Reid's novel.The surge followed a surprise midnight release of two soundtrack tracks—“Rivalry” and “It’s You”—written and produced by Peter Peter for the Canadian series, which traces a slow-burn gay romance and explicit sex between Canadian and Russian hockey players.Viewers including Mu Zi and Aiqing Wang say the show has made them curious about hockey amid a November crackdown that saw dozens of danmei writers interrogated and some charged with producing and selling "obscene materials", and Ann Wang says official introduction of the series now seems "almost impossible".