Robert Irwin loves animals, but he’s had some scary encounters, including one with a crocodile he named after talk-show host Jimmy Fallon.
During an interview with said late-night host, Irwin recalled his near-death experience. “We research crocodiles in the wild to, like, better conserve them, right? So, the way you do that–my dad came up with this–is you actually have to jump on them, right?” he explained on “The Tonight Show.”
“So I jumped on the back of Jimmy Fallon [the crocodile] and get this. The little he death-rolled me,” Irwin recalled. “I jumped onto him. I kid you not. 14 foot of crocodile, big croc, death rolls me.”
He continued, “So I’m stuck underneath him with my arm hanging out. I’ve got like, probably, I don’t know, maybe 700 pounds on top of me. And I’m just like, ‘What do I do?’”
Luckily, the crocodile didn’t squish Irwin, and instead rolled back over, at which point the “Dancing with the Stars” winner was able to get free.
Previously, Irwin had told the story on the “Dancing with the Stars” red carpet after he was asked what animal he would hypothetically bring out on the dance floor. “Maybe we should do that. Let’s bring a crocodile for our first dance. I got death-rolled by a croc. I was talking to you about it just before I came up here. He just about dislocated my shoulder. But I can still lift. It’ll be okay. We’ll be [all] right. So maybe we’ll save that for a little bit further down the track,” he told Parade.
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