DaddyOFive

DaddyOFive, briefly known as FamilyOFive, was a short-lived YouTube channel and online alias of Michael Christopher "Mike" Martin (born December 17, 1982) which focused on daily vlogging and "prank" videos. At its peak, the channel's videos featured Martin, his first wife Rose Martin, and his second wife Heather Martin—also known by her online alias MommyOFive—and their children. In 2016–2017, following a series of "prank" videos showing the parents physically and emotionally abusing their children, the channel became the center of a public controversy. They later were found guilty of child abuse and have ceased creating videos on that channel but have resurfaced on others, following the termination of their original channel.

History

Creation of channel and rise in popularity The channel was created on August 13, 2015; the channel's about page stated, "we as a FAMILY DECIDED to make this YouTube channel just for fun." while Time and The Washington Post reported that the videos had been deleted.

American YouTube personality and news commentator Philip DeFranco released a series of videos covering the channel and sharing his distaste for the content they created, starting with "WOW... We Need To Talk About This..." on April 17, 2017.

DeFranco's first video covering the channel was credited by many news outlets for shining a light on the channel's extreme content. Andrew Griffin of The Independent wrote, "[DeFranco's] video was viewed more than three million times and brought widespread condemnation of the DaddyOFive channel."

Emma and Cody were removed from their custody and returned to their biological mother,

The creators also issued a public apology for the videos and said they were "a loving, close-knit family."

Post-controversy status and plea agreement Mike's channel DaddyOFive released a video on July 7, 2017, showing text expressing that it is not a dead channel and asking viewers to subscribe to Heather's MommyOFive channel for new videos and updates. In July 2017, Mike's channel and Heather's channel had both around 730,000 subscribers and 4.7 million video views, and around 110,000 subscribers and 2.1 million video views, respectively. Later, they changed their channel name to FamilyOFive after receiving the YouTube Creator Award's Silver Play Button for Heather.

Prosecutors from the Frederick County Circuit Court filed criminal charges against Mike and Heather in August 2017, with them facing two counts of "neglect of a minor" apart. On September 11, 2017, Mike and Heather pleaded guilty by way of an Alford plea and were sentenced to five years of supervised probation.

Second termination The FamilyOFive channel, a new outlet for Mike and Heather's videos created while they were on probation, re-instituted the objectionable pattern of behavior regarding abuse of Jake, Ryan, Emma, Cody and Alex featured in the videos. The channel was subsequently terminated on July 18, 2018, for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines, according to several news sources, and YouTube now requires videos featuring children to comply with local child labor laws.

Attempted comeback Despite their second attempt at publishing content on YouTube being met with termination, Mike and Heather continued to post videos on their official website behind a monthly $5 subscription fee, and continued streaming gaming videos on their Twitch channel. As of January 2019, Mike and Heather have deleted all of the videos on their website, stating "In order to move on with the healing process from the 2017 events, we have AGREED WILLINGLY to remove our videos, from even this site. For the sake and well-being of our family Mike and I feel it is best that we take a long break from the public spotlight."

On November 11, 2018, Jake, Ryan and Alex created a new YouTube channel called "The Martin Boys" later changed to "The Martin Family". On January 8, 2019, Mike was accused of uploading a video in August 2018, which featured Cody. Despite breaking a major probation rule, Mike and Heather's supervised probation was reduced to probation before judgment. As of 2025, Mike was active on YouTube as The Martin Family, but the channel has since been "terminated for a violation of YouTube's Terms of Service."