‘Heated Rivalry’ Cottage Owner Revealed: Inside the Home's Design With HGTV

Toronto-based doctor Michael Kutryk still remembers the moment vividly: He was at work when he heard the nurses talking about a new show. "You have to see this series," they told him. "It's the most incredible thing."

The show in question was, of course, Heated Rivalry, an HBO Max sports romance series about two rival hockey players falling in love (based on the novel by Rachel Reid). "[They] were absolutely swooning over it after just the first episode," remembers Michael. "But I knew what was coming.”

Michael was already aware that the final episode of the season was called "The Cottage." He finally told the nurses he knew all about Heated Rivalry … because an entire episode of it was filmed at his house. The cottage in question was his very own, in the Muskoka region of Ontario.

"They couldn't believe it," Michael says with a laugh. "And then once the episode aired, it was psychotic. Someone said the show had three stars: Shane, Ilya and the Cottage.”

Casting the Cottage

Owning a television-famous home was certainly not what Michael, who has kept his identity hidden until now, expected when a location scout for the show tracked him down via the home’s architect. He was open to the idea, but had no idea what it would entail. Producers told Michael the show had a "very small budget," so he agreed to a price that was "almost nothing" — a decision he nearly regretted.

“Not long before filming began," Michael recalls, "I was sitting out on the front stoop and all of a sudden these black SUVs pulled up, and [the crew members] started saying, ‘This is where we’ll put the porta-potties. This is where we’ll put the outdoor kitchen.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, I thought this was supposed to be a small production? How many people are gonna be here?’”

A crew of roughly 45 people to be exact — actually quite small by film production standards. “But it did not seem small to me!” Michael says. “I had never imagined so many people.” He quickly called the producer and tried to back out. “But they promised me it would just be for two days during the middle of the week, when I wouldn’t usually be using the house anyway, so I gave in.”

The size of the crew was the least of the surprises that awaited Michael. After inquiring what the show was about, he recalls, “The producer said, ‘It’s a series based on a book by a Canadian author [Rachel Reid], and it’s about hockey.’” That week, he started listening to the audiobook. He wasn’t prepared when, in the first chapter, a scene quickly turns erotic between the protagonists, Shane and Ilya.

“My jaw just dropped as I listened,” Michael says now, laughing. “The pretty explicit nature of the book made me wonder just what they’d be filming … and showing!” In the end, Michael decided it was too late for misgivings. “I just thought, OK, they’re gonna film what they’re gonna film. What’s done is done.”

Behind the Home's Design

Michael wasn’t present during shooting but already knew what he’d recognize on air: almost everything. “That’s pretty much all my stuff there in the house,” he says of the finished episode. “They changed virtually nothing. I did have to take down all the artwork, because if it’s filmed and the artist sees it, the show would have to pay for it.” One other exception involves a rather steamy bedroom moment between Shane and Ilya: “They did swap out the mattress for that scene,” Michael says.

It’s fitting that the producers changed so little of Michael's cottage, given how much thought and effort he put into its creation. He began planning in 2017, after purchasing land in Muskoka surrounding a small, existing cabin. Michael had spent time living and training in Holland, where he became enamored with the simple, modernist design of the homes there. “When I came back to Canada, I read a newspaper story about a home done by a design firm in Toronto, and the highlight was that they used all-natural building supplies, nothing unnatural. I saved that clipping, and when I realized I now had this land and was ready to start building, I pulled out the old article.” Working with architect Trevor McIvor was actually foreshadowing: Trevor is a former hockey player.

Michael knew what he wanted: “Bedrooms on one side, kitchen on the other, an irregular roof line, something that would be kind of hidden and blend into the surroundings." Trevor connected him with a designer who suggested less wood and more drywall — but Michael stood firm in his vision. The final product features very little drywall in the main living areas of the house. Amid the wooden lakeside setting, the glass, steel and blackened-timber structure appears to float.

Another decision of Michael's impressed even his architect: A hidden television rises and pivots from a wooden half wall between the kitchen and lounge area. (It’s not seen on the show.) “That half wall only exists because I wanted a way to hide the television,” he says. “When the architect saw this thing pop out of a wall that he hadn’t designed, I held my breath … but he loved it and said he wanted to put one into every home he does now.”

But Michael was willing to listen to the experts on some bigger decisions. The structural engineers built the home on an angle, so prevailing winds would passively cool the home. "The breeze pushes the air along; you always have a current coming through, and so the architect felt very strongly: no air conditioning,” he reveals. “When you have air conditioning, the temptation is to close everything off and stay inside … and that’s beside the point for coming to a place like this. Plus, it always cools down at night in Muskoka, and I sleep with the wind coming in, with no shades.” Which makes those privacy shades Shane attempts to use in the Heated Rivalry episode — yes, those are Michael's too — pretty futile. “It’s a good point they make in the show. There really isn’t a need for blackout shades. There’s no ambient light, it’s so dark and it’s totally private.”

The Cottage as a Vacation Rental

Soon, Airbnb started calling. "They were desperate to get it as a booking," says Michael, who had never considered renting the home.

This time, negotiations were the stark opposite of what they'd been with Heated Rivalry production: “Airbnb found the architect’s Instagram page … They said, 'Do you think the owner would be interested?' My architect said, 'No, he’s a private guy. It’s his private retreat.' They kept offering more and more … and finally they said a number, and my architect said, 'Uh, OK, let me talk to him.'"

Airbnb's proposal was for four weekends in May, but it soon ballooned — so Michael called Jane McCaw of Jayne’s Luxury Cottages to help manage the rentals. "She makes it painless," Michael says of Jane. "So, she convinced me to rent it out for longer through her, for the whole summer and into the fall. It was an offer too good to refuse.”

In the end, Michael is fine with the weeks of usage he’s had to give up. “Winter is one of my favorite seasons at the house anyway,” he says of when he’ll regain full access to the home. “You can ice fish, snowshoe — it’s so peaceful and silent. It’s the best fishing in Muskoka.”

Heated Rivalry Season 2

Mild spoiler alert! Yes, there might be more of the Cottage on screen. Michael reveals he was contacted about filming for Heated Rivalry Season 2. “I did a little bit of soul searching about allowing them to come back,” he says. “I know they need it, and I realize I [could] be difficult and try to squeeze them, but I [couldn't] bring myself to do that. When they called, they said, ‘How much do you want?’ First, I told them they scratched my table, then I named a very reasonable price. They were shocked and appreciative. I actually didn’t even get them to replace my table.”

Michael remains undecided about allowing the home to be rented again. “We’ll see after Season 2 airs what demand is like,” he says. “It's still true: I’m a private guy. This is my retreat. I built this to get away from the world, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll continue to share it. [And] I already share it: There’s a huge buck who lives with his harem on the property, and when I was trying to plant the flower beds, I came upon three different patches of turtle eggs. They still come and lay their eggs there.”

If he does decide to relist the home, there will be even more to offer: Construction is currently underway on a boathouse to accompany the Cottage, which almost resembles a miniature version of the primary home, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Just don’t expect the main house to undergo any major expansions: The three-bed, three-bath is exactly as big as Kutryk dreamed— and show creator Jacob Tierney seems to concur. “I was really surprised at how much of the house Jacob showed,” Michael says of watching the episode. “I thought they would just show little vignettes of it. I was amazed they highlighted the cottage in all of its non-expansiveness — that it’s not huge or grand or sprawling. They even admit that only one bedroom has an en suite bathroom … [It's] really something; they actually show it’s not a mansion,” he says. “It’s just my little home.”