Robert Irwin believes his father would love that he is currently a part of Dancing with the Stars.
The Australian wildlife conservationist is competing on season 34 of the ABC dancing competition series. In the premiere episode of Dancing with the Stars, which aired on Tuesday, September 16, he closed out the night with a jive to Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” with his professional partner Witney Carson. During his performance, he put his arm up from his elbow in a pose that was reminiscent of his famous late father, Steve Irwin’s, signature pose.
Robert received the top score, tied with The Secret Lives of Mormons’ Whitney Leavitt and her pro Mark Ballas, with a 15/20. Before the performance, Robert paid tribute to his father by wearing one of his shirts. Robert posted a photo of his family—mother Terri Irwin, sister Bindi Irwin, Bindi’s husband Chandler Powell, and their 4-year-old daughter Grace—at his trailer. Terri wrote in the comments, “I love that you are wearing your dad’s shirt!”
In an interview with Access Hollywood, Robert talked about how his late father would have responded to him watching him on Dancing with the Stars and continuing his legacy.
“I think he’d be stoked. He was the sort of person where he just never held back. He was passionate, enthusiastic about every single thing he did. And he loved life when he was just living on the edge and giving it 100. And that’s what this experience is,” the 21-year-old said.
“I have the honor of continuing his legacy and my family’s legacy, and I never thought I’d get to do that by dancing, but here we are and I’m just so grateful for that,” he continued.
Robert echoed that sentiment in an interview with PEOPLE, published on September 3. He shared that he plans on channeling his father’s passion for life in the dancing competition
“I just hope to keep his legacy alive, his spirit, his sense of just love for life,” he told the outlet. “And so if I can bring that kind of energy into the ballroom and honor him and his legacy, then I’ve done my job. So that’s what we’ll be trying to do is make him proud.”
Steve passed away on September 4, 2006, after a stingray barb pierced his chest and hit his thoracic wall and heart while filming in the Batt Reef off the coast of Australia. The iconic wildlife conservationalist and TV star died at 44.
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Robert is not the first member of the Irwin family to participate in Dancing with the Stars. His older sister Bindi was on the show in 2015 for season 21. At the age of 17, she won the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy with Derek Hough.
Robert shared with PEOPLE that Bindi was his inspiration in wanting to do the show. He told the outlet, “I wanted to do this because I was inspired by my sister Bindi, who won Dancing with the Stars 10 years ago. I remember coming to every live taping to watch her and thinking, ‘One day I have to do this.'”
During Robert’s Access Hollywood interview, he talked about the advice Bindi gave him. He said that Bindi told him he had an “amazing dancing partner” with Witney, so there was no advice she had to give him about dancing but to “just try and enjoy this process because it goes by so fast. Just sink into it. Have fun.”
Dancing with the Stars airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and PT on ABC on Disney+. The show streams on Hulu the next day.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
