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Heated Rivalry author thought Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie were wrong for Shane and Ilya at first

5 January 2026, 17:06 | Updated: 9 January 2026, 10:31

By Sam Prance

Rachel Reid has explained why she initially had reservations about Heated Rivalry's main actors.

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Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid has revealed why she originally thought that Shane and Ilya were both poorly cast.

It's impossible to imagine Heated Rivalry without Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. Not only do the actors portray Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov perfectly but they also capture the chemistry that features in the original Rachel Reid books. In fact, fans are just obsessed with Hudson and Connor now as they are with their characters.

However, in spite of this, Rachel Reid took some convincing that Hudson and Connor were both right for the roles.

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Talking to Variety, Rachel admitted that Hudson wasn't who she initially had in mind to play Shane. She explained: "At first, not quite, because I was just looking at still images of them [on Instagram]. Hudson had a lot of pictures where he looked like a badass and he was smoking or showing off all of his tattoos. I was like, 'I’m not seeing it.'"

As for Connor, Rachel revealed that she was originally set on a Russian actor playing Ilya: "I know that [showrunner] Jacob [Tierney] was very excited about Connor. But it was a thing where we said that he pretty much has to be actually Russian because if he’s not, it’s going to be so distracting. People will be able to tell."

Rachel added: "The whole thing falls apart if he’s not believably Russian. So when he told me, “Well, he’s American and does not have Russian heritage, but he’s really good,” I was like, “Well, OK, if you say so.”"

Connor Storrie and Hudson WIlliams as Ilya and Shane in Heated Rivalry. Picture: Crave

However, Rachel's mind was quickly changed when she met Hudson and Connor in person and saw them both acting with each other in character: "But then as soon as I met them on set, I was like, “Yep, they’re actually perfect.”

She also said: "I can’t even imagine what other actors would’ve been like."