Robert Irwin Shares Why He ‘Wanted to Push Through’ “DWTS” Despite ‘Painful’ Rib Injury

Robert Irwin is feeling great mentally after his Dancing with the Stars win, but still has a way to go physically after injuring himself during the competition.

One day after taking home the Mirrorball Trophy during season 34 of the hit television series, the 21-year-old wildlife conservationist stopped by Good Morning America on Wednesday, Nov. 26 to give an update.

“We’re getting there,” he said of his recovery. “It’s painful, but, you know, no pain no gain.”

Ahead of the big win, Irwin’s dance partner, Witney Carson, revealed in a TikTok shared Monday, Nov. 24, that the Australian-born talent had suffered a rib injury.

“We wanted to push through. Witney was amazing at changing up some of the moves that we had to do in there. We had to change on the fly, but our last dance — that freestyle — was a way to say thank you to everybody who’d been on that journey,” Robert, the son of late conservationist Steve Irwin, said during his post-win visit to the morning show.

Though it may have been tough at times, and even difficult to breathe, he said that he and Carson, 32, kept going “because it was the way to just say we’re so grateful for this experience,” adding, “And honestly, I’ll heal up! Mate, I catch crocs. I’m used to it. It’s all good!”

In Carson’s TikTok, she admitted that after “11 weeks of crazy, vigorous, hard dancing, my body is feeling it. Robert’s body is feeling it.”

The dancer and choreographer continued, “Robert’s ribs have been killing him.”

She did not elaborate any further on his condition, instead telling her viewers that more would be revealed on that night’s episode.

Carson and Irwin spoke to PEOPLE immediately after their DWTS win, where they shared the last things they told each other before becoming this season’s champions.

“We just said, ‘It doesn’t matter what happens now,'” Irwin told PEOPLE. “We’re so grateful that we’re here and we know what we’ve put in and we know what this represents.”

He added that his crowning moment, which came exactly 10 years after his 27-year-old sister Bindi Irwin won with her partner Derek Hough, meant “everything to him.”

“To follow in those footsteps and to do the same has meant everything to me,” he says. “This has absolutely changed my life.”

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Robert praised his older sibling’s win for shining a light on their family’s work at Australia Zoo and Wildlife Warriors, the biggest wildlife hospital in the world.

“It’s conservation on the front line. It’s about making the world a better place. And when I watched her lift that Mirrorball, I saw her lifting that message,” he said.