Robert Irwin had a scary moment with a crocodile but lived to tell the tale.
During a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon,” the 22-year-old conservationist shared he was “death rolled” by a 14-foot crocodile he named Jimmy Fallon when it was a baby.
“He’s not a baby anymore. I named this crocodile Jimmy Fallon, like, years ago, and he’s now what we call a boss croc. He’s huge,” Robert said. “Because we research crocodiles in the wild to, like, better conserve them, right? So the way you do that — my dad came up with this — is you actually have to jump on them.”
The Australian conservationist told the talk show host that after he “jumped on the back of Jimmy Fallon,” the large reptile “death rolled” him.
“I jumped onto him. I kid you not, 14 foot of crocodile, big croc, death rolls me,” he explained. “So I’m stuck underneath him with my arm hanging out. I’ve got like probably, I don’t know, maybe 700 pounds on top of me. And I’m just like, “What do I do?” And luckily he rolled back the other way, and I was fine. But he’s a goer.”
Robert is the son of beloved reality TV star and environmentalist, Steve Irwin, also known as “The Crocodile Hunter,” who was known for his work trying to teach the public to respect and protect all animals.
Steve died in September 2006 after a stingray’s tail pierced his chest and caused a fatal injury to his heart while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef, when Robert was 2 years old.
Since his death, his wife, Teri, and their two children, Robert and Bindi, who was 8 years old when Steve died, have taken over his mission towards advocating for all animals and running the Australian Zoo in Queensland.
“To continue this legacy is the honour of my life,” Robert shared on Instagram in October alongside a reel featuring footage of him and his father when he was younger, and of his father with animals. “If I can make my dad proud, I’ve done my job. Behind everything I do is a conservation mission that my dad started.”
Robert took his turn in the ballroom in the fall of 2025, winning the show with his partner, Witney Carson.
“Coming over from Australia, I didn’t know how it would go. I didn’t think I’d make it this far, because I didn’t realize how incredibly supportive America would be,” he told Men’s Health in December 2025. “It’s impossible to put into words how much that has meant to me, because what I represent is so much more than just a dance.”
When speaking with Men’s Health, Robert also shared that he felt “grateful” to have been brought back week after week, because to him it meant that “what I stand for is being heard and that is incredible.”
“When I step into the ballroom, I’m representing a legacy that my dad [Steve Irwin] created with my mom. I’m representing everything I stand for, not only as a wildlife conservationist, but also as someone who is working really hard to try and spread some positivity and passion,” he said. “I want to be a role model for young people.”
