The Heated Rivalry Cottage Is Coming Back, and Its Owner Refused to Charge More
The Muskoka lake house that played Shane's cottage in the Heated Rivalry season one finale is coming back for season two — because its owner, a Toronto doctor, decided not to raise his price on a show that is now enormous.
Michael Kutryk let the production shoot at his lakefront property when Heated Rivalry had, in his words, a "very small budget," and he agreed to "almost nothing" for it. Then the finale aired, the house became the most photographed piece of property in Canada, and the show came back asking to use it again.
What he said
- "I did a little bit of soul searching about allowing them to come back," he told HGTV. "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."
- On the negotiation: "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."
- On finding out what the show was: he listened to the Rachel Reid audiobook the series is based on. "My jaw just dropped … I just thought, OK, they're gonna film what they're gonna film."
- Airbnb was "desperate" for the booking. He went with another rental company instead, and is not sure he will rent it out again after season two.
Why a location story is a fandom story now
"The Cottage" is the episode this fanbase organized itself around, and the house stopped being a location the moment it aired. A 45-person crew turned a private Muskoka home into a set piece people now book holidays around, which is a specific modern problem: the show did not just find an audience, it exported one onto somebody's dock.
A man read the book after he had already signed the location agreement, understood exactly what would be filmed in his living room, and then declined to charge more for the sequel. That is a more generous act than most of what happens in this industry.
"It's still true: I'm a private guy," he said. Season two is going back anyway.