We’re kicking off the new year by finally stepping into the Red Room and immediately asking some hard questions.

In this episode, Ariel and Morgan break down the infamous first Red Room scene from Fifty Shades of Grey, a film that promised mainstream BDSM and delivered… confusion, questionable choreography, and music doing most of the emotional heavy lifting.

New year, new structure. For 2026, they cut straight to the craft: power dynamics, consent, and why the scene ultimately falls flat.

They get into it all:

• Why the Red Room reads more like spectacle than negotiated intimacy
• How the film confuses dominance with control and intensity with compatibility
• How music, montage, and production design work overtime to create heat that isn’t really there
• What a more grounded, informed version of this scene could have looked like
• And why Christian Grey seems more turned on by interior design than intimacy

This episode isn’t about kink-shaming. It’s about unpacking why a movie that centered BDSM failed to show how consent, agency, and erotic tension actually function in practice. It’s part critique, part craft analysis, and part public service announcement for anyone who thinks mood lighting counts as communication.

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Credits — Fifty Shades of Grey

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
Writer (Screenplay): Kelly Marcel
Writer (Novel): E. L. James
Producers: Michael De Luca; Dana Brunetti; E. L. James
Actors (featured): Dakota Johnson; Jamie Dornan
© 2015 Focus Features / Trigger Street Productions / Michael De Luca Productions. All rights reserved.

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🔗 Connect & Support the Show

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💌 Suggest a Scene & Get Bonuses: Join our Patreon to request movies for us to break down and access exclusive bonus episodes. patreon.com/FakingItThePod
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💬 Review Us: Love the show? Give us 5 stars! It helps other listeners discover us.

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Legal Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own. This episode is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Nothing here is intended to defame, slander, or infringe upon any individual or entity. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners.

We heard you. LOUDLY.

In this very special holiday Bonus Episode, Ariel and Morgan dive headfirst into Heated Rivalry, the wildly requested gay hockey romance that dropped on November 28 and immediately set the internet on fire.

Based on Rachel Reid’s beloved romance novels, the series follows Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, two elite professional hockey players whose rivalry turns into a secret, years-long love affair. What starts as a teenage hookup evolves into a deeply emotional, highly physical relationship that unfolds over nearly a decade, on and off the ice.

Ariel and Morgan break down multiple intimacy scenes from the first two episodes and unpack why Heated Rivalry feels so different from most male-male sex scenes on TV.

They get into it all:

• Why these sex scenes feel unusually realistic, tender, and embodied
• How athletic bodies move differently and why that matters for choreography
• The importance of aftercare, communication, and check-ins onscreen
• What the show gets right about first times, awkward moments, and learning each other’s bodies
• Why queer intimacy is so often shortened and how Heated Rivalry refuses to cut away
• The now-iconic back arch that has gay Twitter in a chokehold

This episode celebrates queer sex that’s messy, hot, funny, imperfect, and deeply human, and why representation like this actually matters. It’s all the spice, none of the filler, and a perfect way to close out the year before we return January 7th.

Give a Little Queer Holiday Love

Please consider supporting organizations that protect and uplift LGBTQ youth. A few of our favorites:

Trans Lifeline
GLAAD
Transanta

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Credits — Heated Rivalry

Creator / Director / Writer: Jacob Tierney
Producers: Bell Media / Crave (limited series)
Intimacy Coordinator: Chala Hunter
Actors (selected): Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander); Connor Dory (Ilya Rozanov).

© 2024 Bell Media / Crave. All rights reserved.

Based on the novels: Rachel Reid (Heated Rivalry (2009), The Long Game (2022))

Support the show

🔗 Connect & Support the Show

👀 Watch the Video Version: See our reactions! The video podcast is available on Spotify and YouTube.
💌 Suggest a Scene & Get Bonuses: Join our Patreon to request movies for us to break down and access exclusive bonus episodes. patreon.com/FakingItThePod
📱 Follow Us for Chaos: Get behind-the-scenes content and updates on Instagram @FakingItThePod
🌐 Visit Our Website: Find all our links and more at FakingItThePod.com

🎧 Subscribe for Free: Never miss an episode! Subscribe to Faking It on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

💬 Review Us: Love the show? Give us 5 stars! It helps other listeners discover us.

Stay real, Fakers 🫡

Legal Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own. This episode is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Nothing here is intended to defame, slander, or infringe upon any individual or entity. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners.

It’s our second holiday episode, which means it’s time for a true Christmas classic: Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999), a film that somehow contains one of the most infamous orgy scenes in cinema history.

In this episode, Ariel and Morgan unpack the cultural mythology surrounding the masked ritual scene and explain what the film is really doing beneath the cloaks, candles, and choreography. Spoiler: it’s not about pleasure, it’s about power, performance, and male insecurity.

They break down:

• Why the orgy may function more as theater than eroticism
• How masking, choreography, and voyeurism guide the audience’s gaze
• The role of ritual, anonymity, and class in the scene’s design
• Stanley Kubrick’s discomfort with sex and how that shapes the final result
• Ariel's hottest take ever (possibly in the history of cinema? You decide.)

This episode reframes the orgy not as transgression, but as a deeply controlled performance: one that exposes how sex, status, and masculinity are staged, surveilled, and policed.

Equal parts film history, intimacy analysis, and holiday chaos, this one pairs best with a glass of wine, a Venetian mask, and a healthy distrust of men in cloaks.

Give a Little Queer Holiday Love

If you’re feeling the spirit, consider supporting organizations that protect and uplift trans and LGBTQ youth. A few of our favorites:

Trans Lifeline
GLAAD
Transanta

Even a small donation helps keep queer kids safe, supported, and celebrated, and that’s the kind of holiday magic we believe in.

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Credits — Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Stanley Kubrick; Frederic Raphael
Based on the novella: Traumnovelle (Dream Story) by Arthur Schnitzler
Producers: Stanley Kubrick
Choreography (uncredited influence): Yolande Snaith
Actors (featured in discussed scenes): Tom Cruise; Julian Davis; Abigail Good; Cate Blanchett (voice, uncredited)
© 1999 Warner Bros. / Pole Star / Hobby Films. All rights reserved.

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Support the show

🔗 Connect & Support the Show

👀 Watch the Video Version: See our reactions! The video podcast is available on Spotify and YouTube.
💌 Suggest a Scene & Get Bonuses: Join our Patreon to request movies for us to break down and access exclusive bonus episodes. patreon.com/FakingItThePod
📱 Follow Us for Chaos: Get behind-the-scenes content and updates on Instagram @FakingItThePod
🌐 Visit Our Website: Find all our links and more at FakingItThePod.com

🎧 Subscribe for Free: Never miss an episode! Subscribe to Faking It on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

💬 Review Us: Love the show? Give us 5 stars! It helps other listeners discover us.

Stay real, Fakers 🫡

Legal Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own. This episode is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Nothing here is intended to defame, slander, or infringe upon any individual or entity. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners.