TERRI IRWIN once remarked of her husband: "Steve always says, 'Whatever you do, keep [the cameras] rolling.' I tell him, 'They aren't going to show it if you die'."
Now the Crocodile Hunter's wife and television executives must wrestle with exactly that conundrum.
It was revealed yesterday that Irwin's camera crew captured the moment when he pulled the stingray's barb from his chest just before he lost consciousness and died over Batt Reef, off the cost of Port Douglas, on Monday.
The multimillion dollar question is whether the footage will ever be shown.
Even Irwin reckoned the world should witness it, said Tommy Donovan, whose online biography of Irwin appears on the film website IMDb. Donovan said Irwin was adamant about keeping the cameras rolling no matter what. "He tells his camera crew to always be filming," the biography says. "If he needs help he will ask for it. Even if he is eaten by a shark or croc, the main thing he wants is that it be filmed. If he died he would be sad if no one got it on tape."