Shane Hollander, the fictional Canadian hockey player in “Heated Rivalry,” will not be competing at this year’s Milan Cortina Games.
But Sean Hollander, a 25-year-old American luger headed to his second Olympics, will be competing — and he is ready for the attention his name’s similarity to the fictional athlete may bring amid the HBO Max and Crave show’s massive success.
“There’s a lot of Shane Hollander jokes going around,” Hollander told NBC News on Thursday.
Hollander admitted that while he hasn’t seen the show and hasn’t yet been recognized publicly for his name, his Team USA luge teammates have already “gotten the biggest kick out of” the name resemblance and plan to make posters referencing the “Heated Rivalry” fictional star to hold up while he competes at the Olympics.
His fianceé, Olympic ski jumper Paige Jones, has even made several TikToks about having a “Shane Hollander at home.”
“I think it’s hilarious,” Hollander said about the attention. “It’s all in good fun.”
The unexpected comparison, however, does not seem to rattle the Lake Placid, New York, native, who finished 8th in the Olympic trials alongside his sliding partner, Zachary DiGregorio, to secure a spot.
Hollander competed for Team USA in Beijing in 2022 and has since won the World Cup in 2023 and racked up a number of medals in the sport alongside DiGregorio, who will be joining Hollander for an Olympic reprise.
Robert Michael / dpa (Photo by Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images
Robert Michael / dpa (Photo by Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander from the USA race down the track.
Before the Games begin on Feb. 6, however, Jones told NBC News she plans to make him watch the show in Italy.
The series, based on Rachel Reid’s romance novels, follows hockey phenom Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams) and his secret, decade-long romance with his rival, Russian-born Ilya Rozanov (played by Connor Storrie). The pair carry on their secret tryst for years until the season’s final episode, when they are found out by Hollander’s parents.
Representatives for Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the name similarity.
For Hollander, the comparison to a closeted professional fictional athlete isn’t jarring, considering the comments he sometimes receives as a doubles luge athlete.
“I mean, the sport that I participate in as well, already has a lot of gay connotations and gay jokes around it, especially during the Olympics, so this, I think, is going to make that tenfold and completely ramp up,” he said, laughing. “Luge always gets the gay jokes at the Olympics because it’s two guys in speed suits lying on top of each other. It’s kind of an easy one.”
In luge, a winter sliding sport, athletes lie feet-first on a small sled and race down an icy track using only their supine bodies to steer. Hollander first competed in singles luge, but switched to doubles — and started sliding with DiGregorio — just 18 months before the Beijing games in a “Hail Mary” to qualify for the Olympics, he said. It worked.
This Olympics, however, Hollander feels like he and his partner are “actually competitive in the race” and have the potential to medal as World Cup winners and World Championship medalists.
The pressure, he added, now has a new layer as the public’s obsession with “Heat Rivalry” continues to grow.
“I feel like there’s a lot of weight on my shoulders because everyone loves the show,” he said.
And although real-life Hollander admitted he knows nothing about his fictional counterpart, he said he imagines the made-up athlete “has a lot of passion for the sport, and he’s clearly very good at it.”
“I think he would want me to live up to his last name and follow suit,” Hollander said. “I think he would wish me the best and want me to go for gold.”
Chris Mazdzer and Emily Sweeney explain explain everything you might want to know about luge, including how you steer and what a crash feels like.
