PLAY: Robert Irwin opens up about his hectic 2025 success

Robert Irwin is what you might call a “hot commodity” right now.

Fresh off the back of a win on the American version of Dancing With The Stars, he’s speaking with Play from South Africa, where pre-production has already started for I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here!

Two big shows in a matter of months — you’d have thought after his hectic 2025 he’d be kicking back with his feet up. But Irwin is not a man to sit still — he’s riding that momentum, and he’s only just getting started.

“I couldn’t wait to get here, actually,” Irwin says of his temporary relocation to South Africa to film in the jungle with this year’s crop of local celebrities.

“Being 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’s good to be back where there’s a bit of greenery.”

Stepping back to host Ten’s long-running reality series feels like something of a sideways move for a young star riding the crest of global stardom.

Irwin’s season of Dancing With The Stars saw its ratings skyrocket, in large part because of the young wildlife warrior’s involvement. It broke all sorts of viewer records — all of a sudden, Irwin wasn’t just “that blonde-haired kid from Australia who likes crocs”, he was a fully formed (and hot as heck) superstar, with audiences of all ages connecting with his magnetic presence on screen.

You’d think he’d be keen to capitalise on all that. But for now, at least, he’s taking the time to weigh up his options.

“All of that was not on my bingo card,” he admits.

“I honestly didn’t expect the whirlwind that this past year has been — it’s been a really big one.

“Dancing was always a dream of mine, and something I always wanted to do (Irwin’s 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’t think it would happen this year.”

Camera IconRobert Irwin is ready for whatever comes next. Credit: Supplied

Irwin wasn’t even sure dancing would be for him — especially after filming a promo for I’m A Celebrity earlier this year.

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.

“I filmed that before I did the whole Dancing thing, and I was still back home in Australia,” Irwin explains.

“It was quite funny, because there was this idea for it to have a dancing/disco vibe, and I was like ‘OK, sounds good’.

“And then I was on set, and they were like, ‘Do all these dance moves’, and I was like ‘I don’t know how to dance.’

“They were like, ‘What do you mean? You are about to do Dancing With The Stars!”

But like most things the 22-year-old has tried his hand at, it turns out Irwin is a natural.

He walked away with that coveted mirror ball trophy in November, and now he’s weighing up which of the (many) projects he’s been offered he wants to try his hand at next.

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He remains committed to his conservation and wildlife work — when home, Irwin still works at his family’s Australia Zoo — but now he needs to consider how he’ll juggle all that, plus all the new opportunities headed his way.

“It’s a great question and something that I am trying to navigate,” he admits when we ask his game plan.

“I want to take on the right projects that can mesh this world of conservation and connect it to a larger audience.

“Growing up I always thought the only way to do that was via wildlife documentaries — that is what my Mum and Dad did, and that was this incredible universal voice they had.

“I 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’s social media, or streaming, or free to air in the States, there are so many ways to do it.

Camera IconRobert Irwin with co-star Julia Morris on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Credit: Supplied

“The thing that Dancing With The Stars did was make me realise I can represent my cause in ways I never thought possible,” he continues.

“I have come to realise that I am a storyteller — that is what I came here to do — 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.”

Irwin wants to be a jack-of-all-trades, and there’s a real sense that anything is possible for the young, ambitious star on the rise.

He’s following in his famous father Steve’s footsteps, but doing it his way, and if this year has taught him anything, it’s to trust his gut and go where it takes him.

“I would describe this year as an absolute gift. It has changed me in so many ways,” he says.

“I 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.

“I 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’s 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.”

Wherever life takes him next — he’s along for the ride.

“I really hope this year I can act as someone that this next generation can look up to and really draw inspiration from,” he says.

“I 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.”

I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! premieres Sunday, January 18 at 7pm on Ten.