He’s wrestled crocs in the outback, shown the world his salsa hips on Dancing With The Stars US and hosted I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, but now, Robert Irwin is swinging into an exciting new gig — hosting the revival of Australian Ninja Warrior.
While it might seem like a bit of a surprise move for Robert, he couldn’t be more excited to be a part of a show he was obsessed with as a kid.
“I’m very excited about Australian Ninja Warrior. This is one I grew up watching. I love it because it celebrates heroes,” Robert tells TV WEEK exclusively.
“I remember watching these people tackling this course, thinking, ‘Oh, I want to do that one day. So when they said, do you want to host it? I said, ‘I want to host it’. But secretly, just between you and me, I actually just want to run the course.
“So my other two co-hosts are going to have to be holding me back. I’d probably be terrible at it, but I still want to give it a go anyway.”
Based off the iconic 1997 Japanese series Sasuke, Australian Ninja Warrior first premiered on Aussie screens in 2017 on the Nine Network. For five years, Mt. Midoriyama and the rest of the difficult obstacle course became the ultimate challenge for the country’s strongest athletes until the reality series was put on ice in 2022. This week, Network 10 announced they were reviving the beloved competition series, with Robert, Georgie Tunny and Beau Ryan as the dynamic hosts leading the way.
Just weeks after the announcement that I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here was cancelled on 10 and moving to Channel Seven — with no confirmation of who will be hosting — the 22-year-old says that he’s excited to confirm another hosting position for a show he’s passionate about.
“Hosting Australian Ninja Warrior fills two niches for me,” Robert explains. It fills the niche of kind of reaching a different audience. I want my message of conservation to be in different rooms, and I feel like this is kind of surprising and like, ‘Oh, why is Robert popping up here?’ But that’s exactly what I love about it.
“The other thing is that it’s a show that I really genuinely loved watching, and it’s a show that I would feel really happy with my little niece Grace, whose five years old, sitting down and watching. And there’s not a lot of reality shows that I could say that about.
“It’s definitely a show that celebrates passion and positivity and that good old-fashioned Aussie underdog giving it a go. And I really, really like that.”
While Robert has been hosting shows since he was 10-years-old, he says he’s been training for when he can finally give Mount Midoriyama a crack himself.
“I’m training already with the crocs,” he laughs.
“Crock wrangling gives you some pretty good upper body strength. I reckon I could give Mount Midoriyama a run for its money.”
Aside from confirming the series will premiere in 2027, 10 hasn’t confirmed when we can expect Australian Ninja Warrior on our screens. However, the casting process has started.
You can apply HERE.
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