John Stainton

John Stainton is an Australian film and television producer and director. He was close friends with Australian naturalist Steve Irwin until his death in September 2006. Stainton also created Irwin's popular nature documentary television series, The Crocodile Hunter, in which he also directed and executive produced every episode (save for a few specials), as well as the spin-offs, Croc Files and The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and the feature-film, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.

Stainton was adamant in preventing the footage of Irwin's death, which depicts him being impaled by a stingray barb in his chest and pulling it out before dying, from being publicly released, stating that "it should be destroyed".[1] This footage is believed to be the only one that depicts someone's death by a stingray, an exceedingly rare cause of death. There were rumors that the footage had been leaked onto the internet, but all were revealed to be faked.

In the memorial service held on 20 September 2006 for Steve Irwin, Stainton made an appearance to pay tribute to his old friend.