The iconic presenter's death shocked the world. Photo / Getty Images
A close friend of Steve Irwin's who was there the day he died has shared the eerie lead-up to the trip that took the Croc Hunter's life, revealing he "tried to stop" the production during which Irwin was stung and killed by a stingray from going ahead.
Speaking to news.com.au's new daily news podcast, I've Got News For You, producer John Stainton — who was behind The Crocodile Hunter TV show and spent 15 years travelling the world with Irwin — said he "felt uncomfortable" about the underwater documentary project from the beginning due to a deep sense of foreboding that he was going to die.
Stainton had even tried to have Ocean's Deadliest canned before the crew travelled to Australia's northeast coast, and when he was unsuccessful, underwent a series of medical tests and prepared a will.
While Stainton's fears were for his own life, it was Irwin who was killed when the barb of a stingray pierced his chest while diving off his boat Croc One on Batt Reef near Port Douglas. He was 44 when he died, with the tragedy shocking his fans around the world.
Stainton said in the months leading up to the shoot, he was so worried something was going to go wrong he asked Discovery Channel to call off the doco, but they refused because everyone had been paid.
"I felt uncomfortable about it when we were sort of going into the production. In fact, three weeks before we were lined up to shoot I actually rang Discovery and said 'Look at I don't feel good about this thing'," he told I've Got News For You host Andrew Bucklow, explaining that he was told it was too late to cancel.
"I just had this premonition in January that would be the last day of my life this year. I just had this really weird feeling … So much so that I went and got tests and CAT scans. I thought 'I have to have something wrong with me' [but] nothing came back.
"I even made a will that year in June before we went on the trip," he added.
Adding to the unsettling events before Irwin's shock death, Stainton said his friend gave a speech that felt unusually final.
"A couple of days before we started the show, he made a little speech to all the crew that were up there catching crocs for his research trip which I joined at the end with our crew to do the deadliest movie. And it was really weird," he began.
"He was sort of thanking them all for being who they were and for helping him … It was like a 'finale' speech... Very weird.
"I had this idea on arriving that something was wrong, but it's just life, you never know what things are going to do to you."
Irwin was an international icon when he died. It was his larger than life personality and boundless enthusiasm for animals that brought him global fame and success.
Cameraman Justin Lyons, who was the only person with Irwin when he was attacked, has previously recalled the moment the stingray "propped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail, hundreds of strikes in a few seconds", with the Croc Hunter looking up at him and saying "I'm dying" as his friends and crew members frantically tried to save him.
Stainton recalled the moment being a "blur" — at first thinking the injury wasn't serious. It was Stainton who later called Steve's wife Terri, the mother of his children Bindi, now 23, and Robert, now 17, and the rest of his family to deliver the devastating news.
"I can remember that night, I couldn't sleep," Stainton said of making the calls.
"I think when you're, as anyone that will know when they're in a state of grief grieving and sadness and shock, that you have to do what you have to do."