The Olympic flame has never been as fiery as it is now. On January 25th, the stars of Heated Rivalry, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, took to the streets of Feltre, Italy, to serve as official torchbearers for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina, in the run-up to the sporting event. During their latest stop in the torch relay—which kicked off in November and will conclude during the Games’ opening ceremony on February 6th—the 24-year-old Hudson and 25-year-old Connor donned matching all-white ensembles as they walked with the flame, as seen in a video posted on the Olympics’ official Instagram page.
The duo was wholeheartedly embraced by the locals who joined in on the festivities. After an onlooker told Hudson, “Italy loves you a lot,” he held his hand to his heart as he replied, “I love Italy.” And Connor certainly felt the love from the crowd too, remarking in a clip on Milano Cortina’s Instagram Stories, “It’s a lot of people!”
The appearance also served as a nod to the Crave and HBO Max series—adapted from Rachel Reid’s novel of the same name—in which Hudson and Connor’s respective characters, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, competed during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. And while the actors won’t be vying for medals themselves, the significance of the symbolic relay certainly seemed to resonate with Hudson, who at one point exclaimed, “This is crazy.”
Indeed, in the weeks since the buzzworthy gay hockey romance debuted, Hudson and Connor have had to adapt to their newfound fame. For the Canadian native’s part, the sudden transition has been a positive experience—for the most part. “I’m not overwhelmed by the grand scale, but I’m more overwhelmed about how many emails I have to get through,” he exclusively told Zuri Hall on Live from E: Golden Globes 2026 on January 11th. “That inbox keeps filling up, messages fill up and that drives me crazy.”
As for Connor, he previously said that limiting his screen time has been essential to keeping himself grounded. “I try to stay off of comments and too much online stuff because our algorithms, especially now, are so geared toward whatever you intake that if you go online, it could just be all me,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on January 9th. “That’s not healthy and that’s not human to only look at yourself. I keep moving and be mindful about where I’m putting my attention.”
