Bindi Irwin joins 'Dancing With the Stars' for 21st season

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Bindi Irwin Is 'Dancing With The Stars' Season 21's First Contestant!
Bindi Irwin Is 'Dancing With The Stars' Season 21's First Contestant!



As Dancing With the Stars readies for its 21st season of competition, the show announced its first celebrity cast member.

Bindi Irwin, known to the world as the daughter of the late Steve Irwin, will compete for the coveted mirror ball trophy, Good Morning America revealed on Monday.

WATCH: Bindi Irwin on Her Father's Legacy: 'His Message Lives on in All of Us'

"The judges scare me more than crocodiles," Irwin joked with the GMA hosts, adding that she's very excited to compete.

PHOTOS: Bindi Irwin through the years

While the show will surely shine a new spotlight on the 17-year-old, Irwin has been generating headlines as she keeps her father's legacy alive. Irwin was 8-years-old when her father died after a stingray attack.

NEWS: Bindi Irwin Is All Grown Up and Super Cute Now!

"Dad is and always will be my living, breathing superhero," she told ET when the show traveled down under where she's following in her father's footsteps by working with animals at the Australia Zoo.

"I'm very lucky to have such a beautiful family," she added of her mother, Teri, and younger brother, Robert. The three of them now live on the grounds of the Zoo, which the family owns.

NEWS: Bindi Irwin's Boyfriend Sends Her a Sweet Birthday Message

Irwin also opened up to ET about her dating life.

"There is someone special in my life right now, and I'm really happy with that," Irwin said of her boyfriend, who was later revealed to be 18-year-old professional wakeboarder Chandler Powell. "Life is wonderful at the moment."

Surely Powell will be cheering for Irwin as she competes in Los Angeles. The show will announce Irwin's competition over the next two weeks.

The new season of DWTS premieres at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 14, on ABC.

Watch Irwin reflect on her father's legacy in ET's exclusive interview with the budding star:

Bindi Irwin Is Keeping Her Father's Legacy Alive
Bindi Irwin Is Keeping Her Father's Legacy Alive

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