The first celebrity announced as a competitor for Dancing With the Stars season 34 is none other than Australian heartthrob Robert Irwin — who walked into a press event fully shirtless, with a snake around his neck (à la Britney Spears at the VMAs), and a nod to the 1994 Australian queer film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
The 21-year-old son of the late Steve Irwin — otherwise known as the "Crocodile Hunter" — has been making headlines lately for his steamy underwear campaigns. Now, the Australian bombshell is entering the ballroom and making a huge splash with an announcement that already had him shirtless and playing with snakes.
On Tuesday, April 22, Hulu hosted an event called Get Real House to preview some of its programming in the reality TV genre. DWTS cohosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro, along with mainstay judge Derek Hough, revealed Irwin as the first contestant joining season 34 of the long-running dance competition series.
In a series of Instagram stories, the Hough siblings excitedly welcomed Irwin into the DWTS universe as he walked around shirtless, in full control of the snake around his neck, and casually revealing that the snake was named Priscilla — which immediately connected the dots to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, an Australian queer classic film from 1994.
In subsequent videos, Julianne Hough had the snake around her neck and served the full Britney Spears performing "I'm a Slave 4 U" at the 2001 VMAs fantasy as Irwin stuck around to make sure that everything was going smoothly between Priscilla and Jules.
Derek Hough then tugged at everyone's heartstrings by sharing nostalgic videos of Robert's sister, Bindi Irwin, who competed on DWTS season 21 back in 2015. Derek, who was Bindi's pro dancing partner during that season, went on to win the Mirrorball Trophy right by her side.
"10 years in the making," Derek Hough wrote over one of the videos via Instagram stories.
There we have it: Robert Irwin is officially entering the DWTS ballroom very soon.
Dancing With the Stars season 34 is coming soon to Disney+, Hulu, and ABC.
