Dancing with the Stars has announced its first celebrity competitor for season 34!
On Tuesday, April 22, it was revealed at Disney Entertainment Television’s Get Real Event that the show had been renewed for a 34th season — and Robert Irwin will be one of the celebrities who will vie for the chance to win the coveted mirrorball trophy in the upcoming season.
“I cannot tell you what a privilege, what an honor it is to be joining this season,” he said at the event, which he attended shirtless — and with a snake around his neck — before recalling how his sister Bindi Irwin, 26, competed on the show in 2015 and it inspired him to do the same.
“I said, ‘One day, that’s gonna be me.’ And now, that dream is a reality and I am over the moon. Let’s do this!” he told the crowd.
A full cast of celebrities and pro dancers are expected to be announced at a later date.
Robert, 21, is a conservationist and zookeeper just like his father, Steve Irwin, who was killed by a stingray at age 44 when Robert was just 2 years old in 2006. Steve and his wife Terri Irwin owned the Australia Zoo, where Robert and Bindi now work.
The Irwin family have dedicated their lives to carrying out Steve’s legacy and starred together in the Animal Planet series Crikey! It’s the Irwins. In September 2024, Robert was named a global ambassador for Prince William’s Earshot Prize, an initiative that seeks solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic; Marc Grimwade/WireImage
As fans may know, the wildlife conversationist isn’t the first of his famous family to compete on the show.
In 2015, his sister, Bindi, won season 21 of Dancing with the Stars alongside her partner, Derek Hough.
Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Earlier this month, Robert went viral for his NSFW campaign with Bonds, the Australian underwear brand that’s launching in the U.S. In addition to leaving very little to the imagination, he posed alongside snakes, lizards and spiders — most of which were venomous.
At the time, Robert told PEOPLE as long as his cheeky ads bring awareness to animal conservation, stripping down to his underwear will have been worth it.
“We are all trying to continue an important legacy that my dad started,” he says. “I’ve gotten to find my own individual ways of doing that, and sometimes that comes in the form of modeling Bonds!”
He continued, “It seems so out of the ordinary for what I would do, but I get to be with Aussie Wildlife, I get to approach a new audience, a new platform, and get my wildlife conservation message out there to more people. And that is what means so much to me and my family.”
As for how his dad Steve would have reacted to the photos? Robert joked, “There’d probably be a few ‘Crikeys’ thrown around!”
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Season 33 of Dancing with the Stars was ranked no. 1 among adults in the age 18 to 49 demographic in live and same day viewing for the first time in its history. The season received its highest total viewer audience at 7.95 million in three years. Season 33 also broke several voting records, with the finale receiving over 32 million votes for the teams.
A premiere date for season 34 has not yet been announced.
