Chandler Powell

Chandler Powell was born on November 14, 1996 in Seffner, Florida to Shannan and Chris Powell. His father is also a wakeboarder and had participated in the very first Wakeboarding competition. His family has a house on a lake in Seffner. After completing his school graduation, he moved to Orlando and became a student at the University of Central Florida, majoring in Marketing with a minor in International Business.

Following in his father's footsteps, Chandler Powell began skateboarding when he was only 4 years old. As he was too small to even flip the board, he would primarily stick to halfpipes and bowls. With time, he earned sponsorships from the local skate shop by his house, as well as from Airwalk Shoes and Powell Skateboards, which is not affiliated with his family. By the time he was 12, he began going to McCormick’s Cable Park, which was right around the corner from his house. Once he learned to ride, he would spend the whole day riding on the water at the park throughout the summer. Noticing his skills, the operators used to give him different tricks to complete each day. He began to make videos of his performances, which earned him more sponsors on the way. At the age of 15, he began participating in tournaments around the country, as well as in different parts of the world. Within a year, he travelled to China, Abu Dhabi, Philippines, Australia and Thailand. While he has been very successful as a wakeboarder so far, it is his relationship with Bindi Irwin that brought him into media attention in late 2015.

According to his grandfather, John DiCenzo, long before Chandler Powell met Bindi Irwin, he was "obsessed" with the Irwin family, especially the late crocodile whisperer, Steve Irwin, whom he watched on TV as a kid. He first got the opportunity to meet and spend some time with the family after he visited Australia Zoo with his parents in 2014. He was immediately impressed by young and beautiful Bindi Irwin, so much so that he wrote a letter to the zoo authorities asking if it was okay for him to write to her. They both loved to travel and often talked about how they tackled travelling and school at the same time.

While they talked over Skype and corresponded over email as well, they both are old-fashioned in a way and loved to write letters. They gradually became very close and, according to Bindi, it was hard for her to say exactly "when it turned into more". The couple made their relationship official in September 2015 during the shooting of season 21 of 'Dancing with the Stars', which Bindi had participated in and won. According to Bindi's mother Terri Irwin, he had got her approval back when he had asked for her permission to be in touch with her daughter. He has become a member of the family now and has even earned a khaki Australia Zoo uniform.

In mid-March 2018, Bindi sparked marriage rumors when she posted a picture on her Instagram promoting the St Patrick’s Day event, the annual wife-carrying competition, at the Australia Zoo. In the picture, she could be seen being carried on Chandler's back, which made fans question if she was already his wife. Soon after, her mother added fuel to the rumors after she shared a picture of the couple on Twitter and commented that her daughter had been kissing frogs since she was a child, and it had finally paid off. Later that month, it was reported that the young couple were living together and had moved into their own luxurious four-bedroom, three-bathroom home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, which even had two garages and a jetty for their boat. However, in May 2018, Bindi told 'Us Weekly' that she and Chandler were in no hurry to get engaged and were just enjoying being together.