How fame-hungry family smashed Xbox & told son he was ADOPTED for viral pranks – leaving child ‘wanting to kill himself’

FAMILY dramas, days out, and weekly shopping trips are all events captured on family vlogging channels.

And while we all seem to be obsessed with watching a family grow and capture their sweetest moments like their baby's first steps - there's a dark side lurking underneath.

YouTube families rake in millions of views each month which transfers to cash as they share every intimate detail of their lives with the public.

To make sure they stay number one, often make their videos more outrageous without thinking of the consequences, like dad of five, Mike Martin.

Family Business

Mike along with his wife, Heather, shot to fame on the YouTube account DaddyOFive but it quickly came tumbling down.

The Maryland-based family sparked online backlash and a criminal investigation after he and his wife were filmed smashing their son's Xbox and pushing him into a bookcase.

The dad began to upload videos with his five children, Jake, Ryan, Emma, Cody, and Alex back in 2015.

The three eldest children are Heather's from a previous marriage and the two youngest, Cody and Emma are Mike's from another relationship.

The channel's About page stated, "We as a FAMILY DECIDED to make this YouTube channel just for fun."

But it turned out not to be 'fun' for everyone.

The family of seven lived together and filmed 'prank' videos which instantly became popular and launched them into overnight stardom.

In fact, the family had over 700,000 followers keeping up with their every move.

But a closer look at the vlogs showed some troubling signs.

'Pranked Hard'

The first concern about how far the family was going when it came to pranking their kids was back in 2016 when Heather and Mike decided to smash the children's XBox in front of them.

Using a hammer, the pair broke the game station before pushing their son Cody, who was only nine at the time, into a bookcase.

He suffered a bloody nose after the push - although Mike later alleged it was fake blood.

In other clips, the parents convinced Cody he was adopted, falsely accused him of bad behaviour and repeatedly yelled and swore at him.

For one prank, the parents decided to trick Cody by spraying disappearing ink on the floor of his room and blaming him. 

In another clip, the couple berated Cody for six minutes for 'messing up' his room.

His step-mum is seen screaming 'Get the f**k up here! What did you do?' while Mike threatened to sell his Pokemon toys.

At the climax of the video, Mike told the boy: 'It's just a prank, brah. You guys got pranked hard.'

In one emotional clip, Cody threatened to kill himself saying, 'I hate my life just kill me'. It was later discovered that an older brother filmed Mike while he tormented his son.

Public Outcry

Many viewers were left horrified by the events the family filmed and led other YouTube personalities to discuss their concerns online, one of those included Philip DeFranco who has over 6 million followers.

Philip flagged what he deemed as emotional and physical abuse in the clips, leading to an online petition which drew more than 20,000 signatures to get Child Protective Services to investigate the family.

Cody and Emma's biological mother, Rose Hall, claims she had told Child Protective Services about the YouTube channel in October 2016.

The agency launched an investigation and the Martins lost custody of them to Rose in 2017.

Simultaneously prosecutors from the Frederick County Circuit Court investigated Mark and Heather for neglecting a minor.

The couple pleaded guilty and were initially sentenced to five years of supervised probation.

According to the, a neuropsychologist during the original sentencing was quoted as saying the Martins' behaviour was linked to "Observable, identifiable and substantial impairments of their [children's] mental or psychological ability to function."

Two years later things were looking up for the couple who were given a reduced sentence to probation before judgement.

The sentence does not include supervision and allows the couple to seek expungement of their child neglect convictions after three years.

They were also banned from filming Cody or Emma on YouTube, and YouTube ultimately shut down their channel.

The children also had to attend mental health treatment to help them deal with the events.

Speaking after the public outcry, Heather and Mike released a video saying: "We went from something that wasn't so bad and then we kept going more and more for the shock factor versus reality to see what could get more views."

"And the kids kind of feel like some of it is their fault, and it's not their fault. We're the parents and we should have made better decisions.”

New Beginnings

Despite being sentenced and on probation, it seems the pair still haven't given up on becoming full-time vloggers.

They returned in 2018 under a new name, FamilyOFive and once again were accused of uploading videos that contained questionable parenting etiquette, as well as of violating YouTube's Community Guidelines - leading YouTube to shut the channel down.

The family then ventured into streaming and created a website where they charged viewers a $5 subscription fee to watch them.

Despite putting content behind a paywall, their new business venture didn't last long.

"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" the Martins wrote.

"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."

Now the family are back on YouTube as The Martin Family and one video of Heather's three boys sharing a message for the public.

"Our parents were wrongfully, accused of things they did not do but made the best choices they could for all of us at the time.

"Our parents have turned over all rights of the website and any DaddyOFive/FamilyOFive archives to us. OF COURSE OUR PARENTS ARE IN OUR VIDEOS they are OUR PARENTS. They have given us permission to use any footage they record as we see fit."

Worrying Trend

Unfortunately, the Martins are not the last vlogging family that has got in trouble with the law.

Recently, Ruby Franke was jailed and charged with abuse and neglect of her children.

Her daughter Shari was just seven years old when she had a camera stuck in her face by her mum, who is now facing 30 years behind bars.

Shari says the family vlogging was lucrative and the family's main source of income.

She recalls being bribed to share intimate moments online to make more money for the family.

"We'd be rewarded $100 or a shopping trip if we filmed a particularly embarrassing moment or an exciting event in our lives," she said.

"Or other times, simply going on vacation was expected to be payment enough, as most kids don't get to go on regular and expensive trips, never mind that the child's labour is actually what paid for the vacation or trip," she told a Utah Senate Committee in October, when she offered a first-person perspective on life as a child influencer.

Shari described the "calibrated" way Ruby would slap her and her siblings.

"Never hard enough to leave visible bruises, at least on me, but always sufficient to instill fear," Shari wrote.

"In her twisted logic, she was molding obedience, sculpting compliance with each stinging blow."

But in some of the most damning evidence in the book, Shari revealed how Ruby began punishing her children "like soldiers."

Shari included an excerpt from one of her diary entries at the time that detailed her mom's "obsession" with the West Point Military Academy.

"For example, earlier today she got mad at Chad and me for not putting away the clothes, so she punished us by making us run around the block five times.

"Then at dinner, Chad was hiding and refusing to help me clear the table, so Ruby made us both do pushups -- Chad for shirking his responsibilities, me for not being enough of a leader."

Shari's accounts match up with Ruby's  from the time - which revealed she hit, starved, and chained up her kids to punish them.