Robert Irwin has officially cracked America. It’s an amazing feat, really, and one very few Aussie celebs have managed to do.

It’s all thanks to his stint on last year’s US version of Dancing With The Stars, an absolute juggernaut of a show.

He went on to win, cementing a place for himself at the centre of pop culture conversation Stateside.

It’s interesting, then, that instead of capitalising and moving to the US, Irwin set course for home.

Earlier this year he reprised his role as co-host of I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! The show was cancelled a few months ago, but later given a lifeline via Seven, which will make its next season.

While Irwin won’t move across (no word yet on whether his co-host Julia Morris will sign on for the new version), last month it was announced he had scored a new gig on Aussie TV, fronting the reimagined Australian Ninja Warrior for Ten.

This Sunday he will also take over from Sam Pang as host of this year’s TV Week Logie Awards.

Surely his star had ascended beyond our industry — why return now?

“The whole point for me is, if I am showing up where you expect I am going to show up, I am not doing my job,” Irwin says.

“I want to pop up in a place where you go, ‘What the heck? Robert Irwin hosting The Logies?’. ‘Wait, Robert Irwin is doing Ninja Warrior?’

“That’s the goal: I want people to be like, ‘Now he’s dancing?’

“That’s the whole point — to get my conservation message out to as many different people, and as many different demographics, as possible.”

Because at heart, that’s who Irwin is — someone who remains truly passionate about nature.

And a great way to spread his conservation message is to fling himself far and wide.

Alongside his upcoming Logies hosting commitment — Irwin is also nominated for the second year running in the prestigious gold category for his work on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! — he is also fronting a new US Dancing With The Stars spin-off series, Next Pro.

The show sees him overseeing a competition to find the next professional dancer to join the long-running American reality competition. Conveniently, it was filmed just a skip and a jump from Irwin’s home at Australia Zoo on the Gold Coast.

“We actually filmed it in Brisbane, which is so awesome,” he explains.

“Because, yes, this is a big American show, but it’s actually made by Australians, and people can also watch it here (it screens on Disney Plus locally).”

The Australian TV industry clearly holds a special place in Irwin’s heart. The opportunity to work within it, and to help showcase it via his Logies hosting gig, was the reason he signed on.

“I grew up watching my dad’s documentaries,” Irwin explains.

“I grew up watching Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures, and that’s what I love: Aussie TV.

“I live it, I breathe it, I have been doing it for 22 years — I was literally born on camera!

“So I was born into a love for Aussie TV, and what an honour it is to host THE biggest thing in Aussie television.”

Irwin has big Pang-shaped shoes to fill, but as he explains, he’s not trying to follow too closely in the comedian’s footsteps.

“I came into this wanting to preserve his Logies legacy, but to create something completely different,” he explains.

So don’t expect any roastings.

“You can never follow in those exact same shoes: he is just the master of his craft and he created a hosting vibe that was so Sam Pang,” he continues.

“Now it’s time to create something that is Robert Irwin.”

Irwin wants to lean into the idea of celebration.

This is 70 years (of Australian TV) that we are celebrating, so it should feel like we are celebrating legacy,” he says.

“And The Logies has created this huge legacy.

“I think it’s really cool that I am the youngest person ever to host, but also that I am someone whose entire life has really been based around this concept of legacy: the legacy my family created.

“Of course my mum and dad are so much more than just ‘wildlife conservationists’ — they are also legends in Aussie TV.

“And, for me, it’s about celebrating the legends of Aussie TV; celebrating this incredible point we have got to.”

In the lead-up to this year’s event, Irwin will be off-grid in Cape York on a crocodile research trip. He’ll dash down to Sydney for the event, before returning once the celebration has wrapped.

Then it’s back to Australia Zoo, where he’ll be based for the next few months.

“It’s important to me that the projects I take on aren’t just for America, or an international audience, but they are for Australia,” he insists.

“I grew up here. I live here.

“There are all these ridiculous claims of me spending time in America. And here’s the thing: I love America — I love my mates over there in the States — but my home is Australia, and it always will be, no matter what.

“Nothing will ever change that. “

The 66th TV Week Logie Awards will air this Sunday, August 16, from 7pm on Seven and 7Plus.