Dancing With the Stars season 34 may be continuing to shatter voting records, but it’s Robert Irwin who has the internet all abuzz. While one could point to his jaw-dropping moves or that shirtless moment, it’s his infectious energy and admirable vulnerability in sharing his family’s story that landed him a spot in Us Weekly’s Reality Star of the Year issue.
“I kind of thought, ‘I don’t know how they’re going to feel about just some random Aussie kid just coming on board.’ But it was really, really amazing,” Irwin, 21, exclusively tells Us of the DWTS audience’s warm reception. “After our first jive that we did, to feel the reaction from America was so, so moving. It really means a lot. … It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever gotten to be part of. I don’t want to leave. I want to be part of the furniture.”
The dedicated wildlife conservationist, who is lacing up his dancing shoes with partner Witney Carson, is following in the footsteps of sister Bindi Irwin. In 2015, Bindi, now 27, also temporarily traded in the Outback for Hollywood in pursuit of the mirrorball trophy — which she ultimately took home with partner Derek Hough.
“It’s a big, strange new world. I’ve never been in a ballroom, and all the glitz and the glamour. It’s been really cool to have her advice to say, ‘This is where you got to kind of focus up and really push yourself and this is where you can sit back and really enjoy,’” Robert gushes about the season 21 winner. “Just navigating that with her advice, it’s been invaluable.”
See Robert Irwin’s Niece, 4, Help Him Practice After ‘DWTS’ Rehearsals
The internet has, understandably, fallen in love with the Irwin siblings (and mom Terri Irwin, who made an emotional cameo during Robert’s Dedication Night routine). So much so, in fact, that Carson’s DMs are flooded with fans hoping to score a date with Robert.
“The whole dating thing, I don’t know,” Robert says with a laugh, when asked why he thinks he’s become such a Gen Z heartthrob. “I don’t think I can answer that one. I haven’t quite figured that out yet.”
It isn’t just Robert, but also Bindi and husband Chandler Powell’s 4-year-old daughter, Grace, who is stealing viewers’ hearts from her seat in the audience week after week.
“It reminds me so much of when I was here, when Bindi did the show. I was 10 years old — I was just a kid — watching her, in awe of what she was doing,” Robert says of Grace. “Now to be here with my little niece, it’s this cool, sort of full circle moment. It’s very, very special.”
Robert Irwin Shares What Late Dad Steve Would Think About ‘DWTS’
From Robert’s perspective, Grace has fully immersed herself in the DWTS world — wasting no time asking him to teach her the steps in his routines. Perhaps it’s all in an effort to get a head start on her own ballroom journey.
“I keep saying, season 50 of Dancing with the Stars — Grace has got it in the bag,” Robert tells Us. “She’s the best dancer in the Irwin family. Bindi may have won a mirrorball, but Grace — that’s where all the talent is. She’s incredible. I finish a routine and then she’s just desperate for me to show her the jive and the tango and the salsa. Like, ‘How did you do that? How did you do this?’ She just gets into it. … I know Witney’s very grateful that my training doesn’t end when I leave the rehearsal studio. Grace makes sure I’m on the straight and narrow.”
While putting a smile on Grace’s face is always the goal, Robert and Carson also want to spread positivity nationwide in an effort to “give us all a bit of a break.”
“If we can just have a minute of joy that people can just tune in and go, ‘Well, that was fun,’ and just forget about everything and just laugh and have fun and enjoy — we’ve done our job,” Robert says. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Robert Irwin Through the Years: From Wildlife Work to TV Star
He’s also hoping to showcase a different side of his personality, from “bloody gallivanting around” without his shirt on to the “really serious and emotional” parts of himself — which fans got a glimpse of in his contemporary routine to Phil Collins’ hit “You’ll Be in My Heart” in the Tuesday, October 14, episode.
“There’s all of these ways that you kind of discover parts of your soul, that you kind of go, ‘Wow, I knew that was in there, but I’d never really felt it before.’ This process kind of makes you sit in your feelings and feel a really, really, really heightened sense of presence,” he explains. “It’s hard to describe, but it’s almost just like you feel everything tenfold, because you’re expressing it through music and through dance. It’s amazing.”
Robert’s late dad, Steve Irwin, is also never far from his mind. (Steve died in 2006 after being injured by a stingray while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.)
“Everything that I try and do is to honor his legacy, to make him proud, and to honor a legacy that not only he created, but that he was creating with my mom,” Robert tells Us. “I think the amazing thing about the Irwin legacy is you think of dad as this larger than life human being, but mom was there through everything and decided to keep all of that going, and was just sort of the one person behind keeping this legacy going. To honor the legacy that my parents created is such a privilege, it really is. I never thought I’d be able to do that through dance. I mean, that wasn’t even in my mind. I had no idea that this would be an avenue to create my own legacy while continuing theirs.”
Through it all, Robert thinks his dad “would be proud” that he’s utilizing his platform for good — whether it’s a new filming project, flexing a new muscle on DWTS or even being honored by Us.
“I think he’d be stoked. I really think he’d be excited,” Robert says of Steve. “Though I don’t think he’d be dancing. Although, maybe — I mean, it’s genetic. It’s got to come from somewhere, right?”
For more with the Reality Stars of the Year, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
