{"id":226882,"date":"2025-10-15T16:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/226882\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T16:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:14:08","slug":"robert-irwin-wows-with-tear-jerking-dwts-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/226882\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Irwin wows with tear-jerking ‘DWTS’ performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you haven\u2019t been keeping up, Robert Irwin has been the one to watch<\/a> on this year\u2019s season of\u00a0Dancing with the Stars\u00a0in the US.<\/p>\n

From showing off his skills in the season\u2019s opener to \u2018Born to Be Wild\u2019, to debuting his new character in the upcoming Disney movie\u00a0Zootopia 2\u00a0in last week\u2019s episode, there\u2019s been plenty of excitement for viewers each and every week.<\/p>\n

But today, the tables turned, leaving fans in tears following an emotional tribute to his mom, Terri Irwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was there. And that was enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s theme on DWTS was Dedication Night, meaning each of the celebrities would choose someone in their lives to perform a special tribute to.<\/p>\n

Robert Irwin left fans in tears following an emotional tribute to his mom, Terri Irwin. ABC<\/p>\n

Many chose friends or siblings. For Robert, it was a no-brainer \u2013 it had to be his mom, Terri.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to dedicate this dance to my mom,\u201d he shared in the Week 5 episode.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an absolute hero to me, because I was two when I lost dad, and as I got older, I suddenly realised just how hard it would have been for her to be there for us, and all the while, continue dad\u2019s legacy that her and dad built together.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his partner, Witney Carson, the two performed a contemporary dance to the song \u2018You\u2019ll Be In My Heart\u2019 by Phil Collins. ABC<\/p>\n

The emotional performance concluded with an appearance from Terri herself, joining Robert on the dance floor for a moment before tears rolled down their cheeks. ABC<\/p>\n

Through tears, Robert shared that he\u2019d \u2018never been able to capture the feeling of gratitude\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt every milestone, I just wished that my dad was there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was there. And that was enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gave us all of your heart and soul\u201d<\/p>\n

With his partner, Witney Carson, the two performed a contemporary dance to the song \u2018You\u2019ll Be In My Heart\u2019 by Phil Collins \u2013 a song he originally wrote for the 1999 film\u00a0Tarzan, dedicated to his daughter Lily Collins.<\/p>\n

The emotional performance concluded with an appearance from Terri herself, joining Robert on the dance floor for a moment before tears rolled down their cheeks \u2013 though it\u2019s hard to believe there would be a dry eye in the house.<\/p>\n

Bindi Irwin \u2013 who performed a piece for her dad when she\u00a0won the series\u00a0back in 2015 \u2013 watched on in the audience with her husband Chandler Powell.<\/p>\n

The dance was met with praise from all four judges: Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, Derek Hough, and special guest judge Kym Johnson-Herjavec.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gave us all of your heart and soul,\u201d Bruno said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can say is this was the true expression of everlasting love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek \u2013 Bindi\u2019s partner on her series \u2013 also raved about the piece, and Robert: \u201cI just have so much love for you guys. I\u2019m so proud of you\u2026 The world needs the Irwin family.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re rooting for you, Robert!<\/p>\n

The piece ultimately received a score of 35 out of a possible 40 \u2013 including his first three nines \u2013 putting him in second place on the final leaderboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to dedicate this dance to my mom,\u201d Irwin shared in the Week 5 episode. Instagram\/dancingwiththestars<\/p>\n

The piece ultimately received a score of 35 out of a possible 40 \u2013 including his first three nines \u2013 putting him in second place on the final leaderboard. ABC<\/p>\n

Robert was just one point behind Zac Efron\u2019s brother, Dylan Efron, and his partner Daniella Karagach, and was tied with influencer Alix Earle and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy \u2013 both having dedicated their dances to their youngest sisters.<\/p>\n

At the end of the episode, it was announced that no one would be going home, meaning Robert will get to dance for at least one more week.<\/p>\n

Robert is one of the season\u2019s frontrunners, along with\u00a0Secret Lives of Mormon Wives\u00a0star Whitney Leavitt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In case you haven\u2019t been keeping up, Robert Irwin has been the one to watch on this year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[98694,16621,88,92020,118832,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-226882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bindi-irwin","9":"tag-dancing-with-the-stars","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-steve-irwin","12":"tag-terri-irwin","13":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}