Dancing With the Stars pro Witney Carson and partner Robert Irwin are becoming as close as siblings as they take on the ballroom together.
“We are just having the best time. I feel like we’ve become like this brother and sister duo,” Irwin, 21, exclusively told Us Weekly after the Tuesday, October 7, episode.
Carson, 31, agreed with Irwin’s sentiment. “100 percent,” she said. “I feel very protective over him, especially when the DMs get a little crazy. I get a little protective.”
The pro dancer has been playing matchmaker for Irwin since the season began, previously joking that her DMs are flooded with applicants hoping to score a date with the wildlife conservationist.
“He is an absolute dream partner and very humble,” she gushed to Us on Tuesday. “I gotta knock him down a little bit sometimes, keep you grounded, critique you a little bit more. But no, he is just as great as you guys see on TV.”
Carson and Irwin showed off their chemistry while performing a cha-cha to Zootopia’s “Try Everything” on Disney Night. (Irwin revealed during the show that he is voicing a new character in the sequel to the hit animated film.)
The pair went on to earn a combined score of 22 out of 30 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, who encouraged Irwin to show off more of his physique.
“Well, I think that might have been left over from last week, because there was, let’s just say we took it easy on the costume department,” Irwin told Us, referring to his shirtless moment from TikTok Night on September 30.
“We wanted to change the vibe a little bit and to really have the same sort of fun and fluidity, but in a completely different dance,” he continued. “The cha-cha was such a challenge, but so much fun and great to represent a movie like Zootopia. Shakira starts playing and the hips just start going. There’s no two ways about it.”
Carson and Irwin ultimately were saved from elimination, earning a chance to dance during the show’s Dedication Night on October 14. (Hilaria Baldwin and pro Gleb Savchenko were voted out of the competition on Tuesday.)
“We’re going to really be doing a special dedication to my family and to my mom, [Terri Irwin],” Robert told Extra on Tuesday. “I’m really excited for it.”
Ahead of the competition, Robert noted that his late dad, Steve Irwin, would have been supportive of his dancing journey. (Steve died in 2006 at age 44 after being injured by a stingray while filming a wildlife documentary in the Great Barrier Reef.)
“After doing this experience, I reckon I think he’d be stoked,” Robert exclusively told Us in September. “I reckon he would love it in here. This is like the ultimate adrenaline rush, and that’s what he loved more than anything else.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
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