{"id":417836,"date":"2026-01-16T22:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417836\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T22:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:45:11","slug":"play-robert-irwin-opens-up-about-his-hectic-2025-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417836\/","title":{"rendered":"PLAY: Robert Irwin opens up about his hectic 2025 success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Irwin is what you might call a \u201chot commodity\u201d right now.<\/p>\n

Fresh off the back of a win on the American version of Dancing With The Stars, he\u2019s speaking with Play from South Africa, where pre-production has already started for I\u2019m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here!<\/p>\n

Two big shows in a matter of months \u2014 you\u2019d have thought after his hectic 2025 he\u2019d be kicking back with his feet up. But Irwin is not a man to sit still \u2014 he\u2019s riding that momentum, and he\u2019s only just getting started.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t wait to get here, actually,\u201d Irwin says of his temporary relocation to South Africa to film in the jungle with this year\u2019s crop of local celebrities.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in LA for the last three months has been wonderful, but I am not a city kid. I live out in the bush and have grown up there, so it\u2019s good to be back where there\u2019s a bit of greenery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepping back to host Ten\u2019s long-running reality series feels like something of a sideways move for a young star riding the crest of global stardom.<\/p>\n

Irwin\u2019s season of Dancing With The Stars saw its ratings skyrocket, in large part because of the young wildlife warrior\u2019s involvement. It broke all sorts of viewer records \u2014 all of a sudden, Irwin wasn\u2019t just \u201cthat blonde-haired kid from Australia who likes crocs\u201d, he was a fully formed (and hot as heck) superstar, with audiences of all ages connecting with his magnetic presence on screen.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think he\u2019d be keen to capitalise on all that. But for now, at least, he\u2019s taking the time to weigh up his options.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of that was not on my bingo card,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t expect the whirlwind that this past year has been \u2014 it\u2019s been a really big one.<\/p>\n

\u201cDancing was always a dream of mine, and something I always wanted to do (Irwin\u2019s sister Bindi competed on the American version of the show back in 2015 and also won). I knew it would happen eventually, but I didn\u2019t think it would happen this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobertCamera IconRobert Irwin is ready for whatever comes next. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

Irwin wasn\u2019t even sure dancing would be for him \u2014 especially after filming a promo for I\u2019m A Celebrity earlier this year.<\/p>\n

That teaser for the upcoming season is currently doing the rounds: it shows Irwin, decked out in a dazzling green sequinned onesie, disco dancing with his co-host Julia Morris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI filmed that before I did the whole Dancing thing, and I was still back home in Australia,\u201d Irwin explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite funny, because there was this idea for it to have a dancing\/disco vibe, and I was like \u2018OK, sounds good\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I was on set, and they were like, \u2018Do all these dance moves\u2019, and I was like \u2018I don\u2019t know how to dance.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were like, \u2018What do you mean? You are about to do Dancing With The Stars!\u201d<\/p>\n

But like most things the 22-year-old has tried his hand at, it turns out Irwin is a natural.<\/p>\n

He walked away with that coveted mirror ball trophy in November, and now he\u2019s weighing up which of the (many) projects he\u2019s been offered he wants to try his hand at next.<\/p>\n

He remains committed to his conservation and wildlife work \u2014 when home, Irwin still works at his family\u2019s Australia Zoo \u2014 but now he needs to consider how he\u2019ll juggle all that, plus all the new opportunities headed his way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great question and something that I am trying to navigate,\u201d he admits when we ask his game plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to take on the right projects that can mesh this world of conservation and connect it to a larger audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up I always thought the only way to do that was via wildlife documentaries \u2014 that is what my Mum and Dad did, and that was this incredible universal voice they had.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just assumed that is what I would do, but I have started to realise that in this day and age, with the millions of different platforms we have, whether that\u2019s social media, or streaming, or free to air in the States, there are so many ways to do it.<\/p>\n

\"RobertCamera IconRobert Irwin with co-star Julia Morris on I\u2019m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that Dancing With The Stars did was make me realise I can represent my cause in ways I never thought possible,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to realise that I am a storyteller \u2014 that is what I came here to do \u2014 and I see myself doing the wildlife documentary side of things, 100 per cent. But I also see myself hosting more, doing scripted (TV projects); I would love to do other TV shows, and I would love to do movies one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irwin wants to be a jack-of-all-trades, and there\u2019s a real sense that anything is possible for the young, ambitious star on the rise.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s following in his famous father Steve\u2019s footsteps, but doing it his way, and if this year has taught him anything, it\u2019s to trust his gut and go where it takes him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would describe this year as an absolute gift. It has changed me in so many ways,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had a lot of epiphanies . . . and have realised there is power in vulnerability. I feel like I have let my guard down a bit this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have kind of always been in the public eye, and there is an element that you always have to be aware of what you are doing, because it\u2019s going to be on the news the next day, but I have had this epiphany of just letting go of a lot of things, and letting what happens, happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wherever life takes him next \u2014 he\u2019s along for the ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope this year I can act as someone that this next generation can look up to and really draw inspiration from,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been leaning a lot into parts of my story that have been hard, and I really hope that in this time where young people are trying to navigate big things that we have never had to navigate before, I hope I can try and be a sense of positivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! premieres Sunday, January 18 at 7pm on Ten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Irwin is what you might call a \u201chot commodity\u201d right now. Fresh off the back of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-417836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}