When are Scott Hunter and Kip Grady introduced on the Heated Rivalry show?

While audiences got to know Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) as a supporting character in the first two episodes of the Crave/HBO Max series, the title for Heated Rivalry episode 3 wasn't actually revealed in advance like all the other episodes had been. In fact, it wasn't until the airing of episode 3 that its official title, "Hunter," was officially disclosed.

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In the lead-up to episode 3, fans speculated that the then-unnamed episode would probably shift focus from the two main protagonists of Heated Rivalry — Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) — to tell the story of Game Changer (book 1 in Reid's overall continuity known as the Game Changers), which centers on Scott Hunter falling in love with Kip Grady (played by Robbie G.K. on the show).

François Arnaud plays Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.

François Arnaud plays Scott Hunter, a closeted hockey player who's the captain of the New York Admirals, on Heated Rivalry. Beyond a few casual appearances in the first two episodes, Scott is one of the two main characters in episode 3, which explores the events of Rachel Reid's first book, Game Changer, in her overall literary series of queer hockey players. The character of Scott, just like Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), is a closeted gay man. Arnaud, the actor, came out as bisexual in 2020 through a social media post shared on Bi Visibility Day.

Born in Montréal, Québec, Arnaud delivered a breakout performance as Cesare Borgia on Showtime's The Borgias in all three seasons of the series. The actor, who spoke Spanish on the period drama along with costars Jeremy Irons (Rodrigo Borgia) and Holliday Grainer (Lucrezia Borgia), subsequently explained on Interview Magazine that he first learned Spanish in high school, picked it back up while having a Chilean girlfriend, and reconnected even deeper with the language while spending time in Argentina when he was 18. He also speaks English and French fluently.

Arnaud showcased his acting chops even further after The Borgias, and truly demonstrated his range as an actor by playing wildly different characters. From the mysterious Oscar on NBC's Blindspot, David's (Dan Levy) eccentric ex-boyfriend Sebastien Raine on CBC's Schitt's Creek, the lead role of Manfred Bernardo on NBC's Midnight, Texas, and a cunning reality TV producer named Tommy Castelli in the fourth and final season of Hulu's UnREAL, this is an actor who always understands the assignment.

In recent years, Arnaud was celebrated as an Out100 honoree and went on to play characters like Harrison on Surface, Patrick Landry on Plan B, Paul on Yellowjackets, Jean-François Sauvageau on Mr. Big, and Sammy in Twinless.

Follow François Arnaud on Instagram.

Music fans have also seen Arnaud playing the love interest between Orville Peck and Noah Cyrus in the music video for "How Far Will We Take It?" from May 2024, which the actor teased in an Instagram video.

Fans can follow François Arnaud on Instagram at @francoisarnaud.

Scott Hunter: character overview.

Scott Hunter is the protagonist of Game Changer, book 1 in Reid's literary series that includes the Heated Rivalry novel. The latter, which has now been adapted into a live-action TV series, features Scott as an ever-present, recurring character.

Book fans have known Scott as a towering hockey star who's been basking in the spotlight for several years. Throughout the Game Changers series, Scott is a poster child for discipline and perfectionism. He's a well-known hockey player, a team captain, and a pretty famous athlete in New York City.

Scott clings to routines. It's just his thing! And a new pregame ritual starts as he stops by a smoothie shop and drinks a special-recipe smoothie by rather cute barista named Kip. After drinking that smoothie, Arnaud suddenly starts to score in games and shakes off a really bad phase in his career.

Robbie G.K. plays Kip Grady on Heated Rivalry.

This episode of Heated Rivalry also introduces the dearest darling Kip Grady, the main love interest in Game Changer (Reid's first novel in the series). Here, the character is brought to life by actor Robbie G.K.

Unlike François Arnaud's presence as Scott Hunter in the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, G.K. debuts as Kip in this episode. Unlike all the other leads introduced so far, Kip is not a hockey player, nor is he in the closet.

Previously credited as Robbie Graham-Kuntz in certain projects, G.K. grew up in Port Credit, Ontario and reportedly went to Etobicoke School of the Arts high school, "where his mentors fostered his singing, acting, and dancing talents." The same bio from G.K. notes that his passion for the craft and professional acting career started in a production of The Sound of Music when he was 13 years old.

Prior to starring as Kip on this Heated Rivalry show, G.K. was best known for his roles as Charlie in two seasons of The Next Step, Adam in the 2015 film Full Out, Tempo 3 on the TV show Utopia Falls, Simon Carpenter in Marry F*** Kill, and Riley on Overcompensating.

Follow Robbie G.K. on Instagram.

G.K. is actually quite active on social media and shares pretty regular updates on new projects that he's working on, as well as casual pictures traveling the world and spending time with his loved ones.

Fans can follow Robbie G.K. on Instagram at @robsgk.

Kip Grady: character overview.

Kip Grady is an underemployed college graduate who works at a juice bar named Straw+Berry. He actually has an undergraduate degree in history and dreams of working at museums in New York City... But, y'know, he's having a hard time finding employment in his field, which leads to his current job as a barista.

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The biggest difference between Kip and the other three lead characters in the Heated Rivalry TV series is that Kip is an out and proud gay man. Again: He is not a hockey player, and he is also not closeted.

Kip goes to gay bars, has the social life of a gay man in his mid-20s, and all of his friends know about his sexual orientation. It's a non-issue, non-topic. However, upon meeting Scott — who isn't out and cannot come out at this point in his career — and falling in love, Kip begins to live a secluded, closeted life in the name of love.

What happens to Scott Hunter and Kip Grady after episode 3?

Heated Rivalry episode 3 ends in an infamous scene for fans of Reid's Game Changer novel: Scott Hunter stands outside, and watches through a window, as Kip Grady celebrates his birthday with a group of friends. It is in this moment that Scott accepts the reality that he simply can't give Kip the happy, free life that Kip deserves.

For the entirety of Heated Rivalry episode 4 and most of episode 5, the HBO Max series returns to its actual protagonists, Shane and Ilya, who are now catching actual feelings for each other and are starting to also face relationship problems. However, as the show continues to follow the book 2 timeline for Ilya and Shane, there is a timeline of events from book 1 unfolding between Scott and Kip — one that just isn't shown in the TV series.

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After Scott and Kip go their separate ways, Scott struggles once again to compartmentalize his gameplay (in hockey) and his feelings (for Kip) as separate things. Kip moves on with his life, and is assumed to start preparing for graduate school. In the meantime, Scott goes back to underperforming in hockey, which brings up an ironic inflection point in his story: If Scott needs to stay away from Kip to be successful in sports, doing poorly in sports because he's missing Kip isn't really a great outcome, innit?

In the book, Scott realizes that there's no point in waiting around for his career to end on a horrible note while he's also screwing things up with Kip. While staying in a hotel preparing for another game, Scott realizes that the time has come to start telling people around him about this sexuality, making way for an eventual coming-out to the overall public. Scott's agent is the first person to hear the news. Despite some resistance, the agent does see dollar signs surrounding the press that Scott would get for coming out.

Scott then tells three of his closest teammates — Carter, Greg, and Eric — who are all nothing but supportive.

What happens to Scott Hunter and Kip Grady before episode 5?

The Game Changer novel includes a few important moments in Scott's coming-out journey that take place prior to this very public display of affection with Kip — a passionate kiss in front of the cameras while celebrating that his team won the Stanley Cup, as depicted on Heated Rivalry episode 5.

Notably, Scott seeks the advice of his coach, Harv Murdock, about coming out as gay to the public. Considering that Coach Murdock was one of the first Black men to become a professional hockey player in his day (within this universe), he is both sympathetic to and concerned about Scott's dilemma. Overall, the coach warns Scott of how he'll be perceived from that day forward, but supports him nonetheless.

Scott continues to come out to the closest people in his life and eventually reunites with Kip. At this point, Scott is feeling so confident and self-assured, that he goes on to meet Kip's parents and introduces himself to them as Kip's boyfriend. (For context, the Heated Rivalry TV show does not feature Kip's mother — only his father — which doesn't make that big of a difference in the overall continuity of the story.)

Kip is right back on track with Scott after this huge gesture of meet his parents and acknowledging him as a boyfriend. As they reunite back in Scott's penthouse, Kip catches up with the news that Scott has already told a few of his teammates, and his agent, and his coach. The two of them hook up, and Scott asks Kip to move in with him, promising that he now has a tangible plan for coming out publicly and not having to hide their relationship ever again.

What happens with Scott and Kip on Heated Rivalry episode 5?

Scott Hunter leads the New York Admirals to win the Stanley Cup, and Kip is present in the crowd along with his best friend, Elena Rygg (played by Nadine Bhabha), as seen on Heated Rivalry episode 5. As the other players are joined by their loved ones to celebrate their victory, Scott turns to Kip — cameras and all — and gestures for Kip to join him on the ice rink.

As Scott and Kip find themselves together in front of a packed arena — with dozens of cameras surrounding them and broadcasting the Stanley Cup finals to millions of viewers — Scott and Kip share a romantic kiss that not only signals Scott's coming out of the closet, but also sets in motion a wave of breaking homophobic barriers in the sports world.

It is then that Scott Hunter earns the title that had been hanging over him throughout the entire first novel in Reid's series of books: Game Changer.

What does Scott and Kip's love story mean to the overall Heated Rivalry show?

Some viewers of Heated Rivalry have questioned why Shane and Ilya's story had to be interrupted by the coupling of Scott and Kip. In many ways, Scott being older than both Shane and Ilya is a haunting warning of how much longer these two hockey superstars will have to endure while keeping their relationship a secret.

Between all of the steamy scenes depicting Shane and Ilya as forbidden lovers who meet in hotel rooms and satisfy their sexual urges, Scott's story is a bucket of ice-cold water splashed over their heads — establishing how actually difficult and risky it is for either of them to come out of the closet under this set of circumstances.

Even as Scott and Kip share that beautiful kiss in episode 5 in front of the entire world, Scott is evidently able to do that as an athlete who is now retiring after reaching the height of his career. Shane and Ilya have many years to go until either of them is ready to retire. While it is true that Scott's actions have a positive impact in the hockey world set within this series of novels, Shane and Ilya are nowhere near this reality of living as out and proud gay couple.

Nadine Bhabha plays Elena Rygg on Heated Rivalry.

As Kip's ultimate bestie, Elena not only helps him snap out of it when it comes to accepting this very closeted life he's been building with Scott, but she also makes Scott himself realize that he, too, deserves a better life in which he can love with pride and not have to keep sneaking around with a partner — whether or not that happens to be Kip.

Elena is a queen who gets 10s across the board from us.

Instagram: @nadinebhabs

Brandon Ash-Mohammed plays Shawn on Heated Rivalry.

Writer, comedian, and actor Brandon Ash-Mohammed, whose work has been featured on Canada's Drag Race, Doomlands, and TallBoyz, plays Shawn on Heated Rivalry episode 3.

Fans get to see a full spectrum of Kip and Shawn's friendship during the episode — from being close friends to working together in catering for luxury events.

Instagram: @brandonamcomedy

Bianca Nugara plays Maria on Heated Rivalry.

The "girl!" heard around the world.

Maria, brought to life by Bianca Nugara, is Kip Grady's main coworker at Straw+Berry. She witnesses the flirting between Kip and Scott right away, and isn't afraid to — hilariously! — call him out on it.

"…Girl!"

Instagram: @biancanugara

Matthew Finlan plays Kyle Swift on Heated Rivalry.

Hi, Kyle!

Matthew Finlan plays a minor role on Heated Rivalry, Kyle Swift, who works as a bartender. Though this is a relatively small role, Finlan actually gets some pretty good screentime as he hangs around Kip Grady and his friends.

Thank you, Kyle!

P.S. This character actually goes on to become a much bigger character in Reid's series of novels, but that storyline isn't yet explored on the HBO Max series.

Instagram: @nadinebhabs

Where to watch Heated Rivalry online?

Heated Rivalry is streaming weekly new episodes every Friday on HBO Max for U.S. viewers.

Meanwhile, the gay hockey series will be available on different streaming services around the world, such as Crave in Canada, HBO Max in Australia, NEON in New Zealand, and Movistar Plus+ in Spain.