Robert Irwin says his worst dancing with the stars injury did not happen under the studio lights. It happened after the season ended, when he was alone in his room and decided to see whether he still had it.
Irwin told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that he broke his foot after he and Witney Carson won the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy on November 25. He said he put on “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf, the song from his first jive, and started dancing in his living room by himself. “I was alone in my room. I have a little fireplace, it's made out of stones. And I'm sitting there going, 'I wonder if I've still got it,'” Irwin said.
The answer came fast. He said he slammed his foot into the stone fireplace, then ended up “rolling on the floor, ballooned, like this giant bruise.” “And yeah, I broke my foot doing the jive in my living room, on my own. It was humiliating,” he said. Carson, his pro partner on season 34, fired back online: “Love how you say 'no one knows this' you should have followed with 'except for Witney,'” she wrote.
The injury landed after a season that had already asked plenty of Irwin. He said he suffered a rib injury just before his last show, but still finished the competition and won alongside Carson. The victory mattered to him in a way he said he could barely put into words. “To follow in those footsteps and to do the same has meant everything to me,” he said, adding, “This has absolutely changed my life.”
That context gives the foot injury its own twist. Irwin had already dealt with pain during the competition, but the fracture came after the finale, not in it. It also came as his family’s dancing legacy widened: his sister Bindi Irwin won dancing with the stars almost exactly 10 years earlier, making Robert’s own title feel like a continuation rather than a standalone moment.
Now the franchise is moving on. Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro is set to premiere on July 13 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, with the show promising, “For the first time in Dancing with the Stars history, the greatest dancers will compete for a spot as the next pro,” and, “Let the fiercest dance battle begin.” For Irwin, though, the story from season 34 is already clear: he won the trophy, then broke his foot trying to relive the dance that helped win it.