But he said although Mr Irwin got into plenty of “close shaves” with his antics involving various dangerous animals over the years, his star charge never feared death.
The larger than life Mr Irwin was killed today by a stingray barb off Port Douglas in far north Queensland while filming for his daughter Bindi's TV series.
Mr Stainton admitted he “always” feared that this day would come during their 20-year association.
“You think about all the documentaries we've made and all the dangerous situations that we have been in, you always think 'Is this it, is this a day that maybe is his demise?',” he said in Cairns today.
“We've been in some pretty close shaves.
“(But) nothing would ever scare Steve or would worry him. He didn't have a fear of death at all.”
Crikey!
Posted by: mooseboy84 at September 4, 2006 05:47 PM"Crikey!"
**Mrs. Muddy smiles and shakes head**
I should've seen that comming.
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 4, 2006 05:59 PMApparently, the footage showing him being hit by the stingray and his almost immediate death will be broadcast on TV, since it was always his wish for cameras to keep rolling even if he was being mauled to death:
"Steve famously said: "My number one rule is to keep that camera rolling. Even if it’s shaky or slightly out of focus, I don’t give a rip!
"Even if a big big old alligator is chewing me up I want to go down and go, ‘Crikey!’ just before I die. That would be the ultimate for me."
More here: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news_detail.html?sku=384
I read too that Australia might even give him a state funeral.
Just to show how rare this is, this is the first documented death by stingray since 1996. To that date, there had only been 17 deaths documented, ever. Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time. You're statistically more likely to be killed by an exploding kitten.
Steve Irwin was genuinely a Good Guy(tm). He did what he loved, and got to die doing it. More of us should be that lucky.
Rest in peace, you crazy bastard!=)
Posted by: Lurker at September 5, 2006 10:12 AMI've heard that "experts" can't agree on whether the number of deaths by stingrays have been 3 or 17 (which seems like a pretty large gap in numbers to me) but they all agree that death by stingrays are very rare.
You just knew it had to be something stupid that he would die from. I mean, think of how many times he wrestled with a croc! Caught very posionous snakes? I think, though that his producer (and friend) said that he always joked with Steve that he (Steve) would meet his demise in the ocean because the ocean wasn't as familiar to him as the land....prophetic words.
He was an amazing guy.
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 5, 2006 12:34 PMAlso - the "Daily Star"?
Isn't that a tabloid? Unless I read it consistantly from other sources (that Steve wanted his death televised) then I'm going to disregard that one.
Besides, even if he wanted the cameras to keep rolling even if he were dying from an attack....that doesn't mean he would have wanted it to be *televised*.
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 5, 2006 12:41 PM