Australians are livid after Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell's wedding special finally aired on Saturday… in America.
Although the Irwin family is beloved everywhere, they're essentially royalty in Australia. Many assumed that the wedding, which included no guests, would air Down Under first. Instead, Australians will watch the "Crikey! It's the Irwins" wedding special last — long after many other countries — on July 18.
The online backlash forced the Irwin's to address the controversy.
"Hi guys! Thank you to everyone who tuned in. Programming is out of our control as Animal Planet decides when to air the show. We will keep you posted as we find out more air dates!" Chandler tweeted.
He later added, "Crikey! Thank you to our USA friends for tuning in to our wedding special! We will share more air dates as we find out from our Animal Planet family."
Bindi's mother, Terri, also stepped in to address the date backlash. After someone asked why Australia has to wait so long, Terri tweeted, "We don't have an answer for that, as @AnimalPlanet is in charge of working through the scheduling for more than 200 countries and territories around the world. We would love to see the wedding special on earlier in Australia. We'll pose the question and let you know!"
As of now, the wedding special will air in Australia after it will be been seen in places such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Ireland.
The wedding special is heartwarming, as it features interviews with the Irwin family speaking about Bindi and Chandler's bond, as well as how Steve Irwin, the late family patriarch, would have felt on her wedding day.
"I think for all of us, it's just emotional, excited and it's just an incredibly special day. I'm overjoyed for Bindi and Chandler to start their married life today," said 16-year-old Robert Irwin, who walked his sister down the aisle. As he got emotional speaking to the cameras before the wedding, his mom chimed in, "It all starts hitting home that your dad's not here and should be and all the things are just kind of snowballing into one."
Before the special aired in the United States, Bindi — who intentionally wore a wedding dress similar to the one worn by her mom when she married Steve in 1992 — posted her vows on Instagram.
"Chandler, When I went to write my vows I found I couldn't stop writing them. I started by sharing all the ways you make my life beautiful and wrote close to a thousand words. Then I moved on to write about what an extraordinary person you are and I needed a new pen. Finally I wanted to share all my hopes for the future and I ran out of notebook paper," she said. "I thought about how there is no way to describe genuine, unconditional love. A love like this is meant to be felt, in every part of our soul."
She continued, "Marriage marks an incredible beginning and yet I feel like we've already experienced so much life together. We say all the time that it feels like we've been married for years. We've been a team through life's wonderful highs and difficult lows. You've held my hand as we've run towards every new adventure. My dad used to say that I couldn't marry anyone unless he could swim across the croc pond first. And now, here you are, helping us during our regular crocodile demonstrations. One of your jobs is to jump into the water with our biggest crocs to help encourage them home! They say there's a moment when you know you've fallen in love with someone, for me it was watching you happily jump in the water with a 15 foot crocodile and then tell me how much you enjoyed it."
She called Chandler her "soulmate" and said she'll love him "through every twist and turn the world brings our way."