The long-running reality TV competition Dancing With The Stars has developed a rep as a reputation-rehabilitation show, which is somewhat removed from its original pitch of \u201cimagine if we made celebrities dance for our amusement like little performing monkeys\u201d.<\/p>\n
Performing on Dancing With The Stars can generate massive amounts of goodwill for even the most benighted celebrity. In the US, controversial casting includes celebrity chef Paula Deen, who appeared on the show two years after making headlines for using racial slurs; pro boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr, who was trying to dance past his domestic violence convictions; and Olivia Jade Giannulli of college-admissions-scandal infamy. Even controversial political figures have attempted to pirouette away from their unpopular public personas, including former Trump staffer Sean Spicer in 2018, and Pauline Hanson on the Australian version in 2004. Not everyone comes out squeaky clean, but at least it\u2019s a good distraction.<\/p>\n
The reason Dancing With The Stars is so effective as reputation rehab is down to our inherent fear about being seen dancing in public. The risk celebrities take in doing the show at all \u2013 let alone doing it WELL \u2013 is rewarded by a potent mix of public adulation and relief.<\/p>\n
And if Dancing With The Stars can do that for disgraced celebrities, it\u2019s no surprise that audiences are going wild after the success of the universally beloved Robert Irwin. The 21-year-old conservationist and scion of Australia\u2019s wildlife-wrangling Irwin family made his DWTS debut on the 34th season of the US series on 16 September, with a performance that judge Derek Hough called \u201cthe best first dance I have ever seen on the show\u201d \u2013 and which scored 15\/20, tying for top of the leaderboard.<\/p>\n
Channelling more than a little Hugh-Jackman-in-Boy-from-Oz aesthetic, wearing a camp sparkly jungle outfit, Irwin \u2013 with dance partner, Witney Carson \u2013 performed a very energetic jive to Steppenwolf\u2019s Born to Be Wild. Not only did he showcase the same energy and enthusiasm he uses to wrestle crocodiles and wrangle snakes, but he danced extremely well, despite having, in his words, \u201cnever moved to music in my life\u201d<\/a> before joining the show.<\/p>\n It\u2019s almost a shame that Irwin doesn\u2019t have a scandal he\u2019s trying to make everyone forget \u2013 although to be fair, the Dancing With the Stars salary is really incentive enough<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n After his performance, he ran to the side of the stage and hugged sister Bindi in a seemingly very authentic show of emotion. Bindi is not only another beloved and unproblematic Australian celebrity<\/a>, but also won <\/a>Dancing With The Stars herself in 2015. Once you also factor in the general good will that Australia and the world have for the Irwin family as a whole, including the tragically deceased Steve Irwin<\/a>, you have literally a publicist\u2019s dream scenario<\/a>. You could even say that Robert is just the latest person to benefit from the American obsession with Australia that began back in the 80s with Crocodile Dundee; as long as he continues to conform to the Australian-larrikin-who-wrestles-animals image, the world will be his oyster. I don\u2019t want to cynically imply that it\u2019s fake or staged \u2013 only that after lapping up some of the more desperate narratives from various B-list crooks and weirdos, DWTS audiences are loving such an unproblematic and wholesome reality TV narrative.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was not planned,\u201d a visibly tearing-up Robert Irwin told a reporter from Entertainment Tonight, about his hug with Bindi at the end of his performance. \u201cBindi said \u2018this will feel like flying\u2019 \u2013 and now I know that feeling \u2026 it meant a lot. It was super cool.\u201d<\/p>\n If that wasn\u2019t enough, in the lead-up to the DWTS premiere, Irwin posted footage<\/a> of him practising his routine with his four-year-old niece, Grace Warrior, that probably blew up ovaries all around the world like a string of super volcanoes.<\/p>\n Allow TikTok content?<\/p>\n This article includes content provided by TikTok. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.<\/p>\n Irwin has also captured the other key audience of a dancing-reality shows: his recent steamy Bonds underwear campaign<\/a> has endeared him forever to the gays and other horny parties. Maintaining a wholesome public image while posing in your underwear with a big snake is a delicate and fraught balancing act, too.<\/p>\n Reality shows are built on narratives \u2013 the redemption arc is only one of the most popular. Following in the footsteps of his already famous family, Robert Irwin is opting into a much rarer narrative: being genuinely likable and surprisingly talented. He\u2019s Australia\u2019s good boy.<\/p>\n