Robert Irwin “couldn’t wait” to leave Los Angeles after winning Dancing with the Stars last year because he is “not a city kid”.
Robert Irwin “couldn’t wait” to leave Los Angeles after winning Dancing with the Stars.
The 22-year-old conservationist triumphed in the 34th season of the show last year but quickly left the city to head to the wild in South Africa to present the Australian version of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in an environment that is far more familiar to him.
Robert told the West Australian: “I couldn’t wait to get out here, actually.
“Being in LA for the last three months has been wonderful, but I am not a city kid.
“I live out in the bush and have grown up there, so it’s good to be back where there’s a bit of greenery.”
Robert – the son of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin – still works at his family’s Australia Zoo but admits that it is becoming increasingly difficult to combine his conservation work with his showbiz ambitions.
He said: “I want to take on the right projects that can mesh this world of conservation and connect it to a larger audience.
“I have come to realise that I am a storyteller – that is what I came here to do – and I see myself doing the wildlife documentary side of things, 100 per cent.
“But I also see myself hosting more, doing scripted (television). I would love to do other TV shows, and I would love to do movies one day.”
Meanwhile, Robert recently wondered if he would be able to find love at Australia Zoo.
The star insists that he has “nothing particularly exciting to report” in his love life at present but hopes Cupid’s arrow can strike at the zoo where his parents Steve and Terri met and where his older sister Bindi met her husband Chandler Powell.
He told the Today show last week: “I’m back in Australia Zoo. That’s where my mum and dad met. That’s where my sister and her husband met.
“Our whole family ends up meeting here at Australia Zoo so you know what? I guess this is the place to do it.”
When the show’s hosts joked that single ladies should head to the zoo to try and strike up a romance, he blushed.
He said: “Oh gosh! What have I done!”
Irwin was romantically linked to Marvel star Xochitl Gomez after the pair’s intimate routine on Dancing with the Stars but he played down talk about his love life.
The star said: “You guys, I’m still blushing when you bring all that up. Goodness me!
“Nothing particularly exciting to report in the love department. I wish there was more I could give you.”
Robert Irwin ‘couldn’t wait’ to leave LA after Dancing with the Stars win
