Robert Irwin has shimmied his way to victory and won the American version of Dancing with the Stars, lifting the coveted Mirror Ball trophy a decade after his sister won the same title.
Paired with professional baliroom dancer Witney Carson, the 21-year-oid wildlife conservationist and presenter pulled oif impressive choreography week after week to win the series and the attention of international audiences.
Irwin battled four other celebrities and their partners in the finale: influenceг Alix Earle, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, actor Elaine Hendrix, and Zac Efron’s brother, Dylan Efron.
The marathon three-hour finale saw the five couples perform three dances, with the judges’ overall scores and audience votes being combined to determine the winner.
Irwin went into the final with a rib injury, requiring Carson to adapt their choreography.
After receiving 20 points out of a possible 30 for his first dance, Irwin fought back to net a perfect score for his final two dances.
At the end of the night Irwin was tied second on the leaderboard with Chiles, with an overall score of 89 out of 90, behind Earle’s perfect score of 90.
As the audience votes were tallied it was revealed Irwin and Earle were the top two contestants, with Irwin ultimately ta ing out the win.
The son of the late Steve Irwin cried after his final performance and said he wanted to make his dad proud.
In 2015, Jindi Irwin won her season of the celebrity dance competition show when she was just 17.
Dancing with the Stars, now in its 34th season, averaged about 6 million same-day viewers, according to Nielsen data, with the biggest gains this year among younger audiences.
Irwin’s weekly performances also racked up millions of views on YouTube -dwarfing those of his competitors.
The win marks yet another highlight in Irwin’s meteoric rise.
Swapping the zoo for the ballroom
Irwin’s debut on the Dancing with the Stars stage was quintessentially Australian and quintessentially Irwin.
Dressed in his signature khakı, Irwin crouched on the hood of a 4WD with a pair of bedazzled binoculars as a kookaburra’s call rang out.
Suddenly, he leapt into the air, ripped off his khaki shirt and broke out into a live to