Source : the age
So many things about Robert Irwin are not surprising. That only days before our interview he was climbing the Grand Teton, one of the highest mountains in Wyoming? Of course he was! That he was cleaning out a chook pen at his home at Australia Zoo in Queensland when he heard about his first Gold Logie nomination in 2024? Yep, sounds about right. That he was on a Dancing with the Stars tour in the US when he heard about his second Gold Logie nomination in June? Yep, that tracks.
“I’m never in a glamorous spot when it’s announced,” he says. “I’m always doing something where I’m covered in chicken poo or I’m all sweaty and disgusting and then a little notification comes up [on my phone] and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s cool’.”
What is surprising, though, is that for a young man with a global profile and the world at his feet, Irwin has chosen to host the Logies, the favourite punching bag of anyone who sniffs, “Who watches TV anyway?”
So, what business does a 22-year-old, who belongs to a generation that barely engages with traditional media, have hosting the most traditional night on Australian TV?
“I remember when I first started hosting I’m a Celeb … Get Me Out of Here!, and so many of my peers my age were, ‘Oh, that’s cool. Nice’,” says Irwin, who is dressed in double denim and is as bright and chipper as ever on this early morning in Sydney. “But, then when I say I’m hosting the TikTok awards, they’re like, ‘What? That’s so cool. Oh my god’. So my job is to bridge that gap and make it all relevant, you know what I mean?
“And so now, particularly after doing a lot more on free-to-air television in Australia, now all my mates were excited for the next season of I’m a Celeb or, ‘Oh, that’s so cool, you’re hosting the Logies’. So my job is to bring that next generation into what we’ve all grown up enjoying. Because I think young people probably don’t realise so much of their vernacular, so much of our culture is built off of the Australian TV and movie industry.”
So, can he make the Logies cool again?
“For me, the way to make something cool and interesting is to not really try too hard to make it cool,” he says. “Stick to your guns. If you’re doing something that you think is funny and fun and interesting – ‘Oh, this gives me a sense of excitement’ – then you hope that the audience are taking that on board, and you take them with you on that journey. So for me, I want to build a Logies this year that is something I would enjoy.”
Yes, that will probably include animals and, yes, it will more than likely include a few dance moves. Khaki sequins? “Australia Zoo meets Logies meets dancing. I think you can do it all,” he says.
In truth, if anyone was born to do the job, it’s probably Irwin. After all, documentary cameras were famously in the room when he was born in 2003, and he made his first appearance on TV the next year, on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, with dad Steve and mum Terri. He hosted his first show, Wild But True, in 2014 and, in 2017, he began the first of many appearances on US late-night TV when, as a 13-year-old, he introduced Jimmy Fallon to an African dwarf crocodile.
He has, in every sense, grown up on screen (which is probably why when he gyrated his way to the Dancing with the Stars win in the US last year that so many viewers were suddenly confused and confronted with, ahem, the kind of thoughts and feelings about Irwin they had never experienced before.)
At 22, he will be the Logies’ youngest host, stepping into the role after comedian Sam Pang declined to return after three years in the gig. Irwin is also a double-nominee: for the Gold Logie – along with Pang, and ABC journalist and presenter Lisa Millar, Nine journalist and presenter Ally Langdon, Tipping Point host Todd Woodbridge, MasterChef Australia co-host Poh Ling Yeow and Irwin’s I’m a Celebrity co-host, Julia Morris – and for the Bert Newton Award for most popular presenter.
He is incredibly proud that he is the first wildlife conservationist to be nominated for a Gold Logie – something he reiterates as that is still his No.1 priority.
“I don’t care if Robert Irwin is nominated for anything,” he says. “I care that a young conservationist is nominated. That’s what means a lot to me, and I think it’s important for a lot of other young people who have an interest in conservation, an interest in environmental preservation, or just a passion for whatever it is they’re into, to sort of see, ‘Oh, cool! If I apply myself to that and really give it everything, it’ll be recognised and rewarded’.”
Irwin is very much following in his dad’s footsteps. Steve Irwin had a rich and colourful history with the Logies, including that time in 2003 when he infamously brought a carpet snake to the awards that bit sports broadcaster Tim Webster on the thigh (“There’s a little bruise there and quite a few little puncture marks,” Webster said afterwards). Steve Irwin was also inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame in 2007, in recognition of his contributions to wildlife documentaries and television, and his influence will no doubt be felt at this year’s Logies.
“It is definitely the honour of my life to get to continue that,” says Irwin. “And I feel like it’s my job to bring that message to a new generation, to a new audience. Dad presented there, so many people in the room he knew very, very well. Immediately, Rove McManus springs to mind. Every time he would see Rove, he’d pick him up, which I don’t know if Rove liked that or not, but he didn’t really have a choice. So, you know, the people who were friends of my dad and my family are going to be in the room, too.
“I definitely feel this is less of a responsibility and more of a joy to be able to go, ‘Well, here I am, sort of continuing where they left off’. It’s going to be an absolute full-circle moment and a real privilege to be part of.”
For anyone who has lost a parent, those constant reminders of the loss can be difficult to navigate, let alone on a public stage. For Irwin, that grief is something he has navigated his whole life, a “childhood defined by loss”, as he puts it.
“It really matures you very quickly,” he says. “It’s this interesting thing. For me, it meant I sort of gained perspective on the value of life very early on, because loss was always just sort of like inbuilt factory settings. I lost Dad [when I was] two years old, all I’d ever really known was having some sort of piece of me missing, which is very challenging, and it’s always hard to talk about.
“But I find I gain something back. I almost gain some form of reconnection with Dad when I do talk about him, when I do see footage of him that I haven’t seen before. When I hear a story that someone shares about him, is it painful? Yes, but I’ve learnt to embrace that, and I’ve learnt the importance of embracing that pain.”
With one week to go until the Logies, though, Irwin does have someone else on his mind: his I’m a Celeb co-host, Morris, who has been nominated for the fifth time for a Gold Logie, as well as for most popular presenter.
They are both in the unusual position of being nominated for a show that has been “rested” by Ten, and has now been picked up by Seven. And while no hosts have been confirmed for Seven’s version – although the rumour mill suggests the return of Dr Chris Brown – neither Irwin nor Morris have publicly been linked to the show.
“It’s very, very bittersweet and obviously, I’m a Celeb has been part of the Channel Ten culture and the Channel Ten family for so long,” he says. “And I think when you’re just doing it, pumping it out every year – I only got to work on it for three seasons, but for Julia Morris it was 12 [years] – when you wrap one season, you’re already starting thinking about the next. There’s 500 people in the crew. It really is a big staple in your life. And I think for both of us, it was the first time we actually got to look back and go, ‘Oh, that was pretty cool, that was awesome what we got to do on that show’.”
If Irwin has one wish for the Logies, though, it is this: “My pitch for the Gold Logie is go and vote for Julia Morris,” he says. “I am very honoured to be nominated, very honoured for my message to be recognised. It means a great deal. But Julia Morris has been nominated five times. The Logies is about rewarding those that have really contributed to the industry, and Julia has contributed so much to Aussie TV since she was younger than me [Morris first appeared on talent show New Faces when she was 17], and she is just a very selfless individual.
“I am usually a very level-headed and mild-mannered person, but if Julia doesn’t win that bloody Logie, I’m coming for you all. And I had this realisation the other day: if I am reading out the name of who wins, I can just say, ‘Julia Morris’, they can’t stop me.”
The 66th TV WEEK Logie Awards will be broadcast from 7pm on Sunday, August 16, on Seven and 7Plus. You can also follow all the action on our live blog from 3.30pm, with coverage kicking off with all the fun of the red carpet.
