Robert Irwin has won the Australian version of Dancing With the Stars (DWTS)—and fans are feeling nostalgic.
The 21-year-old conservationist, who has followed in the footsteps of his late father, the “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, joined the reality competition in April of this year, and was an instant fan-favorite hit.
Now, after weeks of competition, Irwin and his professional dance partner Witney Carson have clinched the Mirror Ball—10 years after his sister, Bindi Irwin, won the same competition.
The Irwin siblings have been in the spotlight since they were children, thanks to their father’s status as a national treasure, with countless fans worldwide.
And fans are now nostalgically recalling a much-younger Robert Irwin, as a video from 10 years ago has gone viral again.
In April, after joining the DWTS cast, Irwin posted a video to his TikTok account @robertirwin, of him in the studio with his older sister while she was taking part in the show—where he was asked if he would ever take part himself.
And the then-11-year-old had an instant answer: “Definitely! I would love to, that would be so much fun.”
His sister then pointed out that Irwin “has some really cool moves”—which he then showed off, describing it as “the sprinkler” as he put a hand behind his head, one had in front of him, and moved from side to side like a sprinkler.
The clip, which you can see here, then changed to Robert at a DWTS press conference, a giant snake draped around his shoulders, as he recalled the iconic interview with “little Robert” with a “bowl cut.”
He remembered thinking: “One day, that’s going to be me. And now that dream is a reality, and I am over the moon.”
The video has close to 200,000 likes, as users flooded the comments with support, one writing fondly: “Robert has always been an old soul.”
Another wrote: “You two are great supports of each other. Lovely to see,” while one said: “His dad is smiling so hard.”
And, on the final day of the series on November 25, Irwin posted another video, which you can see here—this one with the 10-year-old video combined with his own time on DWTS, showing off his dance moves, with the caption: “Dreams can come true.”
This video proved even more popular, with a whopping 1.2 million likes, as one commenter wrote: “I’m crying, you did it,” and another called it “well deserved.”
“He is the perfect Mirrorball champion,” another said, and as one put it: “I know his dad is so proud of him.”
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