Robert Irwin Is Still Looking for His Perfect Mate: ‘I Want a Relationship Like My Parents’ (Exclusive)

Yes, for anyone wondering, Robert Irwin is still single — and the hottest import from down under since the bloomin’ onion says he just might end up with an American.

“My mom and dad met when she was this American tourist coming over to Australia, and that’s also how my sister met her husband,” Iriwn explains to PEOPLE in this week’s cover of his dad, the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin and wife Terri, and his sister Bindi and her husband Chandler Powell.

“I’ve been saying, when is that going to happen for me?!” he says with a laugh.

After Robert posed for a racy Bonds Australia underwear ad in April, he joked that suddenly they noticed a major uptick in American tourists to the Australia Zoo, where he works as a wildlife conservationist.

“Oh yeah, it was very funny… it ended up creating, well let’s just say the visitation at the zoo was really good and it was a lot of Americans. It was great,” he says.

He’s also still shaking his head over the campaign going viral, with so many fans unsure of how to react seeing young Robert Irwin all grown up.

“I did not expect the reaction it got!” he says with a laugh. “Yes, I’m all grown up, and I want to start tackling bigger projects and discussing the big and important issues,” he says. “I feel like my whole mission of conservation is being listened to on an even larger scale, and it’s more important than ever to come together with a sense of kindness toward each other and toward the planet. “

Robert, who is prepping to compete on Dancing with the Stars beginning Sept. 16 (like his sister Bindi before him, who won the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in 2015), is currently too preoccupied with getting ready for the show to think about dating.

“I’m still waiting for it,” he says. “That American tourist is not quite lined up.”

To read more about Robert Irwin, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on stands now.

He says he does know one thing: he’d love to have a relationship like the one his mom and dad had. He says his mom Terri, 61, is his hero.

“She is just the most brave, steadfast, determined human being I’ve ever met,” he says. “And to me, she is just the epitome of a great leader, a great mother, and just a hero to me because she had this life she created with dad and just had the rug pulled out from under her, but she was able to move forward with such grace and still be there for my sister and I.”

He adds, “So I look at my mom, I look at my dad and I’m like, that’s it. That’s who I want to be. That’s a perfect relationship.”

Dancing with the Stars season 34 premieres Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and simulcast on Disney+. The show streams the next day on Hulu.