Robert Irwin shares what's next after winning Dancing With the Stars Season 34

Robert Irwin’s victory on Dancing With the Stars Season 34 has placed him at the center of the show’s final chapter this year, and the 21-year-old is already moving toward his next commitments.

Speaking shortly after taking home the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy with professional partner Witney Carson, Irwin outlined the immediate steps in his schedule and reflected on the season that has reshaped his public life. He told E! News, 

“I go to New York and then straight to South Africa to film another show over there… And then, I'm back home.”

That matter-of-fact summary sets the tone for Irwin’s post-Dancing with the Stars path: straightforward, stacked, and rooted in the work he has carried long before ballroom lights found him.

What Robert Irwin says comes next after winning Dancing With the Stars

In keeping with the structure of Dancing With the Stars, Irwin’s season was not an isolated spectacle but a continuation of a public journey that began long before his first quickstep.

His appearance on Season 34, referenced repeatedly during episodes as a “full-circle moment,” was shaped not only by skill-building but by personal memory.

During the finale week, he shared older footage of himself from 2015—during his sister Bindi Irwin’s winning season—when he said, 

“Definitely, I would love to. That would be so much fun.”

The remark, made when he was 11, turned into a lived reality a decade later.

What comes next returns, in a sense, to the very work Irwin has carried out since childhood: wildlife conservation and documentary filming.

His confirmation that he is heading to South Africa for another show reflects the continuity he often speaks about publicly.

As he said in another moment of the E! News interview, 

“I've been able to write my own legacy with Witney as we tell stories of positivity, vulnerability, passion, and fun.”

The season did not pause his life’s mission; it widened it.

Irwin also noted that Witney Carson will be part of his near future beyond Dancing With the Stars. “Witney's coming down to Australia,” he added, after sharing his travel plans.

Carson responded during the interview with, 

“You're not getting rid of me that easy.”

Their partnership, marked by physically demanding routines and a rib injury Irwin carried into the finale, extended beyond the walls of the studio.

Training for the closing episodes of Dancing With the Stars was described by Carson as “intense,” with the dancer posting before the finale. 

“My body is feeling it right now, Robert's body is feeling it right now.”

She also revealed that “Robert's ribs have been killing him,” a detail that contextualized the lifts and athletic choreography in their freestyle round—one judges later described as “beautiful,” “graceful,” and, in Bruno Tonioli’s words, “a 24 karat solid gold performance.”

Throughout Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars, Irwin’s routines repeatedly carried tributes to his family.

The November 11 anniversary night placed him back on the floor alongside Bindi, where they danced to Leona Lewis’ “Footprints in the Sand,” a callback to her Season 21 routine dedicated to Steve Irwin. 

“Tonight was healing,” he wrote the next day, adding, 

“This dance was emotional, beautiful, and so deeply meaningful. I carry Dad's legacy with me in everything I do, and it was a privilege to dedicate our foxtrot to him.”

The season’s dedication night also centered on his mother, Terri Irwin. He wrote on Instagram on October 15,

“This dance was a story of love, loss, grief, and gratitude. It is a thank you message to my mum… to pay tribute to all the strong mothers of the world, and the single parents.” He continued, “I know my dad was with us, and can only imagine how proud he would be of my mum.”

Irwin’s reflections during and after Dancing With the Stars consistently tied the show to his broader identity. He posted,

“I'm a proud Wildlife Warrior, and I'll always carry on my dad's mission, “I'm so grateful that I can do that in the ballroom.”

Such statements, unembellished and direct, reveal a thread of constancy: dancing was an extension of his work, not a divergence from it.

As the Season 34 champion, Irwin now steps from the ballroom onto another set, another continent, and another project.

His path echoes the way he approached the show—straight ahead, unhurried in explanation, but steady in intention.

The Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy closes one chapter, but the next begins almost immediately. 

According to him, it begins in New York, moves to South Africa, returns to Australia, and continues the narrative he has been writing since he was a child standing beside his mother and sister.

Stay tuned for more updates.