The show involves Irwin, a sun-bronzed Queenslander whose accent and vocabulary are reminiscent of the fictional Crocodile Dundee, going to various exotic locations, locating various pieces of dangerous local wildlife, such as the crocodiles of the title, wrestling them to the ground, and showing them to the camera before (usually) releasing them, apparently unharmed. His antics are often narrated, breathlessly, by his Oregonian wife, Terri Irwin.
A sign of the show's notoriety is that it has been parodied on South Park.
Whilst popular in the United States, particularly with children, Irwin and the show are the subject of derision in Australia. It is widely believed that Irwin's accent, catchphrases, and screen persona are a calculated fiction designed to appeal to American stereotypes about Australians. It is also generally believed that his supposedly dangerous stunts are in fact not nearly as dangerous as the melodramatic narration suggests - and, if they were, they would be foolhardy. He is also criticized over the morality of harassing wild animals going about their business for the purposes of public entertainment.
Irwin claims that his on-screen persona is genuine, and that his show serves to reach a far wider audience and educate them about the importance of nature than more worthy but dull wildlife documentaries.