ROBERT IRWIN, WITNEY CARSON

Robert irwin is opening up about his experience on DWTS (Image: Getty)

Robert Irwin is opening up about how he prepared his loved ones before a dance that was considered “spicy” by fans when he competed on Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars this fall.

The 22-year-old wildlife conservationist competed on the ABC show alongside Witney Carson and was a fan-favorite throughout his time on the show.

After 10 weeks, he wound up leaving fans screaming and crying as he clinched the win, taking home the show’s famed Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy.

 

However, while many felt he was going to win from the beginning due to his popularity with fans entering the show, as well as his talent and growth throughout the episodes, that didn’t stop several moments from going viral throughout the season.

One such moment occurred during his TikTok Night dance on week 3, where he and Witney danced a Salsa to “Million Dollar Baby” by Tommy Richman–which saw him strip off his shirt for the routine.

ROBERT IRWIN, WITNEY CARSON

Irwin ipened up about his ‘spicy’ shirtless routine (Image: Getty)

Now, after appearing on the Thursday, December 18 episode of Kylie Kelcie’s Not Gonna Lie podcast, he admitted his family didn’t know the routine, which scored 22 out of 30 judges’ points, was going to see him go shirtless.

“They didn’t [know it was coming],” he admitted. “Surprise!”

“There was a good reason for that because, every dance that I had done, I would give my family a little preview,” he continued. “They would come to a rehearsal, or I’d show them a video. But then this one, there’s a point in the dance where I remove my shirt, and there’s a lot of…it’s salsa, so it’s, you know, it’s a little bit spicy…”.

“I was like, I can’t show my fam, I don’t know,” he added. “So I just went, you know what, I’m just gonna go for it. And I said to them, ‘So this one’s a little bit edgy.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s great. Go for it.’ But then afterwards, they were like, ‘Whoa.’”

WITNEY CARSON, ROBERT IRWIN

Despite the shirtless moment, Irwin went on to win the Mirrorball trophy (Image: Getty)

The routine was one of several Irwin performed that netted him an 8 and two 7’s from the judges, though he quickly found himself earning better scores halfway through the competition, with a contemporary routine during week five receiving one 8 and three 9’s.

He continued earning scores of the same variety throughout the season, getting his first 10’s just two weeks later with a Halloween Night Argentine Tango.

His first perfect score came during the quarterfinals, with a Foxtrot.

In the end, he wound up winning the Mirrorball Trophy and being crowned the Dancing With the Stars champion, just beating out Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy.

He is the second member of his family to win a Mirrorball Trophy, after his sister, Bindi Irwin, also competed and won the trophy during the show’s 21st season.