FHN - I have visited Australia on numerous occasions and love the people and the place! I am saying that my friends who are Australian are embarrassed by Irwin. I would liken it to people thinking that George W is a representation of the US. For some people, they love GW, for those who do not, they are embarrassed by him. I agreed w/ the thread that Aussies and Canadians are laid back. But even laid back people can have an opinion, they just don't take themselves or their opinions to seriously.
AK - Reality t.v. is not solely reality based. What shown on the "behind the scenes" w/ the Crock Hunter showed that sometimes they would not get the desired results that they wanted for t.v. or for the shot and so they would help the shot along.