今日吃瓜

The iconic Imperial Hotel in Erskinville came alive this weekend for the Heated Rivalry lookalike competition.

After the event, which was scheduled for a local park, got too big, council threatened to shut it down.

However the folk at The Imperial Hotel stepped in and now, we have our winners.

Heated Rivalry Lookalikes crowned

It seems the world can’t get enough of Heated Rivalry, the new and wildly successful HBO show following the love story of closeted ice hockey players, Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) as they balance their relationship and identities with their careers in professional sport.

Australia of course, is no exception to fanfare, as was witnessed in Sydney this week.

Sydney content creator Lena Tuck attracted thousands of likes for her first post about the 鈥淗udson and Connor Lookalike Competition.鈥�

However her plans to host it in Camperdown Park in Newtown were thwarted by council who advised she lacked the proper permit.

Instead The Imperial Hotel was packed to the rafters for the official event and it did not disappoint.

Sydney drag darling Jackie Daniels hosted the event in her finest hockey attire while the Heated Rivalry die hards packed the venue as the lookalikes took to the stage.

The resemblance of the finalists truly was uncanny with the top four being revealed before the winners were announced.

In the end there could only be two, very enthusiastic, winners who took home a bundle of prizes including vouchers, cash and a trophy each.

The winner of the Shane Hollander look alike dedicated his win to “all the asian bottoms out there” as he clutched his trophy.

He was joined by the Rozanov winner, Sean, who appeared shocked and excited and his latest title.

Tuck said the response to the competition was representative of just how big聽Heated Rivalry聽had become since the first episode aired in December.

鈥淚t鈥檚 truly crazy, but also amazing,鈥� she told聽Star Observer. 鈥淚t just goes to show that the people are invested, and the people want to see the lookalikes, and the people want to have a space where we can talk about shows like聽Heated Rivalry聽and crazy fandoms.

鈥淭he two actors, Hudson and Connor, are just these no-name actors who have blown up out of nowhere, and they are just so warm and excited for the spotlight unlike any Hollywood actors we鈥檝e seen before, who were just primed and ready鈥� I think the public hasn鈥檛 seen that in a while, and I think we haven鈥檛 seen that since One Direction, or Justin Bieber, and everyone鈥檚 just really gravitated towards these two actors who are just obviously beautiful, but funny, talented, and we just want to root for them.鈥�