{"id":585396,"date":"2026-08-31T00:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T00:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/585396\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T00:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T00:50:17","slug":"enigmatic-who-was-the-real-steve-irwin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/585396\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Enigmatic’: Who was the real Steve Irwin?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to believe 20 years have passed since we lost wildlife warrior<\/a> and TV personality Steve Irwin<\/a>. Fearless, boisterous, fun and always smiling, Steve \u2013 better known as the Crocodile Hunter \u2013 was a man who changed the world of nature documentaries by getting up close and personal with some of our most terrifying animals.<\/p>\n

Despite the tragic accident of one of those creatures, a stingray, taking his life, Steve\u2019s legacy lives on in a new documentary: Steve Irwin: A Wild Life.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve and family at Australia Zoo in 2006. (Credit: Getty)<\/p>\n

As this documentary begins, his long-time friend and cameraman, Justin Lyons, explains why: \u201cSteve was this larger-than-life, crazy, enigmatic, passionate lunatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the following hour of archival moments from Steve\u2019s many TV appearances, plus interviews with those who knew and loved him, the Crocodile Hunter certainly lives up to his old friend\u2019s summary.<\/p>\n

Whether he\u2019s dancing away from the jaws of a giant crocodile, or cuddling a cute koala, he educated, amazed, engaged and put a smile on the faces of millions of fans.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve was passionate about animal conservation. (Credit: Getty)<\/p>\n

And, yes, the controversial side of Steve\u2019s life is discussed here too\u2026 from the debate over how much was too much when it came to dealing with wild animals; whether he went too far with involving his young family in the dangerous documentaries he made; and if there was a sad inevitability to his eventual death, given just how far he pushed his luck.<\/p>\n

But, throughout it all, there\u2019s also confirmation that whatever the conservationist did was done with the best of intentions \u2013 and a good dose of fun while he was at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what life\u2019s about, isn\u2019t it?\u201d we see Steve saying to Charles Wooley of 60 Minutes back in 2002. \u201cJust getting out there, having fun following your passion and being enthusiastic. That\u2019s the go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve was also a family man. (Credit: Getty)<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the Irwin joy that lives on today.<\/p>\n

Of course, Steve was also a devoted husband to Terri and a father to Bindi and Robert. Speaking to TV WEEK, Gold Logie nominee Robert describes his father as \u201cthe most passionate human being\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Irwin won the Bert Newton Award for Most Popular Presenter at this year\u2019s Logies.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe approached everything at a hundred per cent,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I can be half the person he was, I\u2019ll be very, very happy. He was truly a superhero.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there was so much more to Dad than I think people realise. As a dad, he was just the most devoted human being. I lost him very young, but that passion he had it couldn\u2019t help but take hold. All I can hope is that I\u2019m doing him proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Irwin: A Wild Life airs Wednesday, September 2, 8.30pm on Nine Network and 9Now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard to believe 20 years have passed since we lost wildlife warrior and TV personality Steve Irwin.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[144168,859,111,139,69,147,1381,406],"class_list":["post-585396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-crocodile-hunter","tag-documentary","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-steve-irwin","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}