Mark Carney embraced his ‘Heated Rivalry’ fandom with a viral red carpet moment

From hockey fans to romance novel readers, Heated Rivalry has quietly become one of the most talked-about television shows in the world. And this week, it picked up an unexpected new fan.

Prime Minister Mark Carney was among the guests at a gala in Ottawa celebrating Canada’s film and television industry, where he crossed paths with Hudson Williams, one of the stars of the hit Crave series.

Video from the red carpet, shared on Carney’s X account, shows Williams wrapping the prime minister in a white Team Canada fleece worn by his character on the show.

“Oh baby! I’ve made it, finally,” Carney could be heard saying as he tried on the garment.

At one point, Carney jokingly encourages the young actor to strike a pose and “do the leg thing,” a reference fans of the show immediately recognized.

The internet had a field day with the moment, which has since gone viral.

Some turned it into a new Canadian Heritage Moment.

Meanwhile, Carney has been receiving a lot of love in the comments section of an Instagram page dedicated to the series.

“Chef’s kiss, no notes. So proud to be Canadian,” one comment reads.

“It makes me VERY happy & proud that it was PM Carney’s idea to do the Leg up pose,” another user added.

Based on Rachel Reid’s romance novel Game Changers, Heated Rivalry launched on November 28 with two episodes, “Rookies” and “Olympians,” which both focused on the professional hockey debuts of Canadian Shane Hollander (Williams) and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie).

Viewership skyrocketed by over 400% after the show premiered, and it quickly became Crave’s most-watched original series.

Carney later delivered a speech at the media event, calling it “a true made-in-Canada phenomenon.”

Upon thanking Reid and director Jacob Tierney, he revealed that studios “south of the border” wanted to tone down some of the show’s more explicit content. “What is the point of that?”

The 60-year-old Liberal leader then leaned fully into the moment, jokingly taking credit for the show’s success.

“Look, I’m a politician. I’m not above taking credit for the Canadian funding that helped you share this story with the world,” he said, adding that he “greenlit this thing.”

He also gave Williams another shoutout before wrapping up the address.

“Congratulations to my new best friend, Hudson. I don’t know if you saw the energy on that carpet, but I felt it.”