Robert Irwin isn’t jiving around his lack of Dancing With the Stars prep.
In fact, the wildlife conservationist shared that he really didn’t put his best foot forward before walking into practice with partner Witney Carson.
“This is how the conversation went,” Robert, 21, exclusively told E! News correspondent Will Marfuggi at the Dancing With the Stars premiere Sept. 16. “Witney’s like, ‘So you’ve known for like four months you’re gonna do this show? What have you done to prepare?’ And I said, ‘Nothing!’”
But while he may not have prepared physically, Robert admitted knew some of what was to come after watching his sister Bindi Irwin compete—and win it all—with partner Derek Hough during season 21 in 2015.
“I feel like I had a good idea of what this show was about coming into it, cause my sister had done it,” Robert said. “But it blew away every single expectation I ever had. And that’s thanks to this incredible team, amazing cast, and honestly above all, the most incredible dance partner ever. 10 years in the making, here we are. It’s such a privilege.”
As for the advice he got from his big sister—who was in the audience to cheer him no during his Australia-themed performance—it was all about letting fun take the lead.
“Bindi just said, ‘Take a breath and enjoy every single second of it,’” he said. “As soon as she found out that Witney was my partner she said, ‘I got no notes on dancing. You have got that covered. You got a great partner. You’re gonna be all good. But really try and enjoy this cause it goes by so fast.’”
And while it took a beat for him to get into the rhythm of practice, all his Robert’s hard work paid off as his and Witney’s jive landed them at the top of the leaderboard by the end of the premiere—something Witney could hardly believe.
“That’s crazy,” Witney gushed, before adding to Robert, “The fact that you’re competing against actual dancers and you’re keeping up and you’re at the top is really cool. Like that is a testament to how hard you worked.”
Robert agreed, giving credit to his pro partner, “I think we’re a good team.”
For more on the Dancing With the Stars season 34 cast, keep reading…
Baron Davis
Partnered with Britt Stewart
Jennifer Affleck
Partnered with Jan Ravnik
Alix Earle
Partnered with Valentin Chmerkovski
Dylan Efron
Partnered with Daniella Karagach
Corey Feldman
Partnered with Jenna Johnson
Elaine Hendrix
Partnered with Alan Bersten
Robert Irwin
Partnered with Witney Carson
Jordan Chiles
Partnered with Ezra Sosa
Scott Hoying
Partnered with Rylee Arnold
Whitney Leavitt
Partnered with Mark Ballas
Hilaria Baldwin
Partnered with Gleb Savchenko
Andy Richter
Partnered with Emma Slater
Danielle Fishel
Partnered with Pasha Pashkov
