Robert Irwin cheated death in terrifying crocodile encounter
Robert Irwin was left fearing for his life when a 317kg crocodile named Jimmy Fallon locked him into a “death roll” but he ultimately escaped unharmed.
Robert Irwin was left fearing for his life when a 317kg crocodile named Jimmy Fallon locked him into a “death roll”.
The 22-year-old conservationist - who is the son of late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin and his wife Terri - was taught by his dad how to handle the reptiles, but things almost went badly wrong during one particular encounter.
Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he said: “I named this crocodile Jimmy Fallon, like, years ago, and he’s now what we call a boss croc. He’s huge, right?"
The talk show host was keen to defend his namesake and insisted the crocodile was actually "normal size".
He added: "It's just as you get older, you start to put some pounds on. I know what it’s like.”
Robert then laughed as he told the story of how he was almost crushed by the 14ft long creature.
He said: “We research crocodiles in the wild to better conserve them, right? The way you do that — my dad came up with this — is you actually have to jump on them, right?
“So I jumped on the back of Jimmy Fallon… and, get this, he death-rolled me. 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?’ "
Luckily, Jimmy Fallon the crocodile eventually “rolled back the other way” and Robert made it to safety.
He concluded: “I was fine, but he’s a goer, Jimmy. He’s a goer.”
Robert was appearing on the TV show after competing on US TV show Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) - on which he emerged victorious with pro dancer Witney Carson.
Following his huge win, it was announced that he would be hosting a new spinoff programme entitled Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, which will be hunting for a new professional dancers for the 35th series of the TV competition, and Robert teased some of the animals from his family's wildlife conservation park could make an appearance.
He said: “We shot it in Brisbane, so right at Australia Zoo. There’s even an episode that may or may not take place with some of my animals back at Australia Zoo.”
Dancing expert Mark Ballas - a former DWTS pro himself - will be a judge on the new programme, alongside his mother Shirley, who is the head judge on the British version of the show, Strictly Come Dancing.
Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro will premiere this July in America.
An official promo for the series was shared on social media, in which it was labelled “a journey to the ballroom like never before”.
