Do we like Robert Irwin?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A clean record on harm, a public LGBTQ+ ally and climate advocate, with only a thin paper trail on a few topics holding him back from a nine.
Robert Irwin grew up at Australia Zoo on the Gold Coast, the son of the late Steve Irwin, and has been on screen his whole life. As he put it, “I was literally born on camera!” He now says he has been in TV for 22 years, and he's still based at the zoo.
The career has gone global. He won the US Dancing With the Stars in 2025, co-hosts I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in Australia, and fronted a DWTS spin-off. In August 2026 he became the youngest person to host the Logies, and he says “my home is Australia, and it always will be, no matter what.”
On the harm test, there's nothing to dig up. In 2020 he posted a rainbow photo captioned “Proud to be an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community this #comingoutday”, and PinkNews has since profiled him as a proud ally. A viral post in 2025 claimed he refused an LGBTQI pin at a Sydney gala. AAP FactCheck found it false: he was in the US at the time and the quotes were fabricated.
On the planet, he's been consistent since he was a teenager. In 2019 TIME reported him saying his dad was talking about climate change before it was mainstream, and that “We definitely have to act quickly.” Today he's an ambassador for Prince William's Earthshot Prize, and he told Hello this year that William's passion for the planet is genuine.
The closest thing to a stoush was with Pauline Hanson in 2024. His lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to the studio behind her cartoon series, saying his likeness was used in an “unauthorised and deceptive” way. Pedestrian reported that Hanson would fight it. Where you land depends on whether you see a young bloke protecting his image or someone who can't take a joke. We didn't find how it ended.
The other blemish is a funny one. In July 2025 he left a Coffs Harbour cafe without paying for a takeaway salad, after fans crowded him for photos. He rang the restaurant to settle up and posted a video apologising, joking that “Today is not the day I start my life in crime”. The cafe replied warmly.