Robert Irwin had a scary moment with an alligator but he lived to tell the tale.
During a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the 22-year-old conservationist shared that when he was a child, he was “choked to death” by a 14-foot alligator, which he named Jimmy Fallon.
Robert said, “He’s not a baby anymore. I named this alligator Jimmy Fallon years ago and now we call him Boss Alligator. He’s huge.” “Because we do research on crocodiles in the wild to better conserve them, right? So the way you do it – my dad came up with this – is you have to actually jump on them.”
The Australian conservationist told the talk show host that after “jumping on Jimmy Fallon’s back”, the large reptile “dragged him to his death”.
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He explained, “I jumped on it. I kid you not, a 14-foot crocodile, a big crocodile, death stalks me.” “So I’m stuck under him with my arms hanging out. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe 700 pounds of weight on top of me. And I just say, “What do I do?” And luckily he rolled over to the other side, and I was OK. But he’s gonna turn around.”
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 teaching the public to respect and protect all animals.
Steve died after a stingray’s tail pierced his chest and fatally struck his heart while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef in September 2006, when Robert was 2 years old.
Since his death, his wife, Terri, and their two children, Robert and Bindi, who were 8 years old at the time of Steve’s death, have taken over his mission of advocating for all animals and running the Australian Zoo in Queensland.
The Irwin family, including Steve, Bindi, Robert and Terry Irwin, are pictured at Australia Zoo. (Australia Zoo/Getty Images)
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“It is the honor of my life to continue this legacy,” Robert shared on Instagram in October with a Reel featuring childhood photos of him and his father and photos of his father with animals. “If I can make my father proud, then I have done my part. Behind everything I do is a conservation mission that my father started.”
Robert and his older sister Bindi both competed on and won “Dancing with the Stars”, with Bindi winning the Mirrorball trophy during Season 21 in 2015, when she was 17 years old.
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Robert began his turn in ballroom in late 2025 by winning the show with his partner Witney Carson.
“Coming from Australia, I didn’t know how it was going to be. I didn’t think I’d get this far, because I didn’t know how incredibly supportive America would be,” he told Men’s Health in December 2025.
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Robert didn’t know how he would be received on “DWTS” because he is from Australia. (Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images)
While speaking with Men’s Health, Robert also shared that he felt “grateful” to be brought back week after week, because for him it meant that “what I stand for is being heard and that’s incredible.”
He said, “When I step into the ballroom, I’m representing the legacy that my father (Steve Irwin) built with my mother. I’m representing everything I stand for, not only as a wildlife conservationist, but also as a person who is working really hard to spread positivity and passion.” “I want to be a role model for the youth.”
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