Meet the Mitchells is the surprise Jamaican Youtube hit that emerged during the pandemic. The popular series stars reggae and dancehall artist Wayne Marshall, his wife, former singer Tami Chin Mitchell, their four children, brother and nanny. Regular appearances are also made by Tami’s sister, singer Tessanne Chin, the couple’s parents and other extended family members.
The sweet, funny, and sometimes very raw reality show has connected with Jamaicans and the Caribbean diaspora in a major way. Each video upload averages around 100,000 views, and the Meet the Mitchells Youtube channel has a large subscriber base of 223,000.
Meet the Mitchells proved to be what people needed during the estrangement caused by pandemic lockdowns. But, even as restrictions have relaxed, the show’s viewership continues to grow rapidly with its audience spending even more time with the close knit Jamaican family.
If you haven’t made the plunge to watch Meet the Mitchells, here are a few reasons why you should consider it.
Representation of the blended Jamaican family
The Mitchells are an “atypical typical” Jamaican family. Many Jamaican households, whether rich, poor or somewhere in between, eschew the conventional nuclear family structure for something broader. Tami and Wayne live with their three sons (Jaxen, Atlas, and Oz), a newborn daughter (Ivy Arrow), Wayne’s eldest from a previous relationship (Giomar), and Wayne’s little brother (Alex). Tami’s family, her sisters or parents, regularly cameo in the series and are heavily involved in the lives of the children. Momo, their beloved nanny, is such an institution within the household that she is practically family. The Mitchells are a microcosm of how family blends into the community across the island. And, even more importantly, they are a positive representation of this very real cultural phenomenon.
A direct line to Jamaican culture
Meet The Mitchells is a window into Jamaican culture. The candid camera that floats alongside the family, creates an opportunity to absorb Jamaican culture from a distance. As celebrities and media personalities, the show is such a phenomenon that keeping up with the Mitchells allows you to also stay abreast of the cutting edge of Jamaican culture.
Watching generations interact
To the extent that young people are comprehendible, Meet the Mitchells is as good a resource as any to learn about the imperceptible lives of children and young adults in Jamaica, and how it intersects with classic Jamaican parenting. In a recent episode, Jaxen complained about the lunch he carried to school revealing the inner lunchroom politics of the haves and have-nots. It turns out, pudding is a status symbol. Wayne is quick to remind him that he should be grateful to have food and that people make do with less. We see two different generations have a civil interaction and come to a compromise. With ages ranging from a newborn to 19, we get the full scope of pre-adulthood experiences from one show. Wayne and Tami also learn lessons from their parents, flipping the dynamic and showing that everyone, no matter their age, always has room to grow.
Couple Goals
In a lot of ways Tami and Wayne present as the ideal Jamaican couple. Their mannerisms and dynamics have spawned numerous hashtags including #couplegoals. The pair are cautious to not lean into only showing idyllic moments in their relationship. “[Being goals] puts a lot of pressure on,” Tami shares with Dionne Jackson on Jamaican talk show, All Angles. “The vlog has become an effort to dismantle what people think is perfect.” Ironically, as Jackson points out on the show, a couple who can disagree and then healthily resolve their conflicts, is another version of #couplegoals.
Pushing the positive co-parenting model forward
One of the relatively novel aspects of the show is the portrayal of positive co-parenting. Giomar, Wayne’s eldest, splits his time between Wayne and Tami’s home and that of his mother, former Miss Jamaica World, Regina McCallum. “We put our children at the center of everything,” explained Tami on All Angles. Wayne went on to joke that Tami and McCallum have a closer relationship than he has with McCallum. It’s a novel concept not just in Jamaica, but across the diaspora. Societal norms often dictate that a man’s current partner should never interact with any of his previous partners. Through exercising a productive parenthood strategy, the Mitchells are challenging the problematic values that Jamaican families have held onto for ages.
A new episode of Meet the Mitchells is released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the Meet the Mitchells Youtube channel.
