Robert Irwin is giving fans a peek at what’s usually unseen territory: The 21-year-old zookeeper is posing half-clad for an Australian underwear company that’s launching its line in the United States.
The conservationist, Aussie TV personality and son of the late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin flashes some serious muscle in the new Bonds ads, which include him posing with a snake, a spider and a lizard. In a few photos, he’s even wearing shirts.
It’s a new look for the usually khakis-clad Robert, who hadn’t even turned 3 when his dad died in 2006. In a freak accident, Steve Irwin died after being pierced through the heart by a usually chill stingray while filming an underwater documentary in a lagoon off the Great Barrier Reef.
Robert Irwin told People that he didn’t hesitate when he was asked to be the face — and the abs — of Bonds clothing. He would be “representing Australia,” he said.
“I’m at this point in my life where I’m trying to do as many different and random exciting things, and if it’s something that makes me a little bit nervous, that I’ve never done before and it’s a bit of an adrenaline rush? That’s what I want to be doing.”
He said he was very comfortable working with the critters during the photo shoot but noted, “Getting your gear off is way scarier than wrangling a croc!”
Among his other pursuits, Irwin is currently hosting the Australian incarnation of “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” along with Aussie comic Julia Morris, who has been that show’s co-host since 2015.
Irwin said that before the underwear shoot he got “a lot of great tips” about working out from family members including his mother and his brother-in-law, Chandler Powell, a former pro wakeboarder from Florida who married sister Bindi in March 2020.
Mom Terri Irwin was helpful because, he said, she “actually did bodybuilding! She had more biceps then than I’ll ever have!”
Tkay Maidza, the Zimbabwean-born Aussie rapper known for the singles “Electric Feel” and “24K” and the album “Sweet Justice,” is modeling the female portion of the Bonds line — with her top half covered, mind you.
