It’s a life of adventure for Robert Irwin! The TV personality, 17, is following in the footsteps of his late father, Steve Irwin, and spends much of his time out in the wild.
The wildlife photographer stars alongside his mother, Terri Irwin, and sister, Bindi Irwin, in the Animal Planet series Crikey! It’s the Irwins, but he also struck out on his own in July with the Shark Week special Crikey! It’s Shark Week.
“I can’t wait for this adventure — to come face-to-face with a great white,” Robert told Us Weekly exclusively before filming the show, now streaming on Discovery+. “I can’t wait to bring audiences on this amazing journey with me, joined by our incredible film crew capturing all the action!”
The Australia-born nature lover came by his passion honestly as the son of two naturalists. He made his television debut when he was just three years old, appearing on his sister’s show Bindi the Jungle Girl. At age 13, he made his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, showing the host a dwarf crocodile, a red-tailed boa and a sloth.
Though his father died when he was only two years old, Robert has kept his memory alive through his work and still uses Steve’s research vessel, the Croc One. In February, he also fixed up his dad’s old motorcycle. “I have so many memories of Dad’s old motorbike — hanging on to the front with Bindi as we’d ride around the zoo with Dad,” he wrote via Instagram at the time. “And now after being in the shed for a few years, it’s all fixed up and running again. It’s so special to be riding it after all this time!”
For Shark Week, Robert had to brush up on his shark facts with an “amazing team of experts” based in Lady Elliot Island, Australia, which the reality star describes as “one of my favorite places on the planet.
“This is such a great learning experience for me,” he told Us. “It’s fascinating to see just how in tune these sharks are to their environment. I’m in their territory now!”
Like his dad, Robert has an unending interest in crocodiles, but his Shark Week trip taught him plenty about shark behavior.
“It was humbling to see firsthand the true power of a great white shark,” he wrote via Instagram after his trip, alongside a video of a shark whipping its tail very close to his boat. “And while this may look pretty action packed (which it certainly was!) it’s all in the name of science! It is so important to learn more about these apex predators and work out how we can better protect them.”
Want to know how else Robert spends his time? Keep scrolling to see what a typical day in his life looks like in action.