They are cut from the same cloth.
Dancing with the Stars season 34 winner Robert Irwin paid tribute to his sister Bindi 10 years after she won the dance competition show.
After the son of the late conservationist Steve Irwin took home the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy with professional partner Witney Carson on Tuesday night, Robert said winning the same honor as his sister meant “everything to him”.
“It meant everything to me to follow in those footsteps and do the same thing,” the 21-year-old Australian conservationist told People after the show’s finale. “This completely changed my life.”
Robert told the outlet that Bindi, 27, receiving the award in 2015 with her DWTS partner Derek Hough was special because it allowed the family to tell the public about their conservation work, philanthropy and Australian Zoo and Wildlife Warriors.
“It’s about making the world a better place, and when I saw her hold up the mirror ball, I knew she was holding up that message,” he said.
During the season, Robert exclusively told Page Six that Bindi gave him great advice about competing on the show.
“Bindi said, ‘Lean into this and savor every second,'” he told Us in September. “She’s been here the whole time. She made it all three months. She won and said it went by in a flash.”
He also said his sister was an “inspiration” in “many aspects of my life,” including dancing.
“She’s always been like a second mother to me, you know?” he told us.
Robert and Carson, 32, were announced as the champion winners of the Season 34 Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy at the end of the three-hour finale.
Ahead of the show, Carson revealed that they had to make last-minute changes to the choreography because Robert was battling rib pain during rehearsals.
Second place went to Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy, third place went to Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, fourth place went to Dylan Efron and Daniela Karagach, and fifth place went to Elaine Hendricks and Alan Bersten.
Tuesday’s season finale also saw the return of previously eliminated contestants Corey Feldman, Hilaria Baldwin, Whitney Leavitt, Jen Affleck, Andy Richter and Danielle Fishel.
“DWTS” co-hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro said the “gap” between first and second place was “the narrowest we’ve ever seen” in the history of the ABC series.
