Prince William made a shocking appearance on “Dancing with the Stars” on Tuesday in support of Robert Irwin.
The 43-year-old Prince of Wales surprised viewers by appearing on the dance show via video chat with Irwin and Irwin’s partner Witney Carson. William surprised Irwin with a video chat, jokingly calling him “Twinkle Toe” and saying he missed him.
Irwin mentioned to William the Earthshot Awards ceremony held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on November 5th and asked him how Rio was. Irwin was scheduled to attend the Royal event, but had to cancel as he was still participating in the “DWTS” competition.
“We need you here,” William said with a smile.
“You guys have a good chance of winning,” he told both of them after playfully teasing Irwin.
“I wish you the best of luck on the show,” he added.
After Prince William hung up, Prince Carson was visibly shocked to find out he had been talking to the royal on video.
“I can’t believe he just said my name,” Carson said.
Irwin added, “Let’s not mess this up!”
Fans were also shocked by William’s surprising cameo on the ABC show.
One fan wrote to X, “Prince William from #DWTS wasn’t on my bingo card. So cool!”
One person wrote on the current TikTok: “This is absolutely insane.”
Another fan noted that Zac Efron wasn’t in the ballroom to cheer on his brother, DWTS contestant Dylan Efron, and joked, “How did you get Prince William to zoom in but you can’t get Zac Efron to call his brother?”
Irwin is an ambassador for the Earthshot Prize, a global environmental award established by William and the Royal Foundation to find and fund solutions to the world’s biggest environmental problems.
In June, William surprised Irwin with a voice memo when the 21-year-old conservationist appeared on British radio station Radio 2.
“I know we have the wonderful Robert Irwin on the show this morning, who is a wonderful ambassador for the Earthshot Prize,” he said at the time.
On Tuesday’s episode of “DWTS,” Irwin performed a foxtrot to Leona Lewis’ “Footprints in the Sand.” He and Carson earned their first perfect score of the season for their moving performance dedicated to their late father Steve Irwin.
