Leading up to Oct. 19, it had been a stressful and overwhelming stretch for Pam MacPhee and her mom – affectionately known by her family as Mama Belle.
MacPhee told KelownaNow that her mom is 91 years old and living in Edmonton, and it’s time for her to move into a retirement home.
“She’s not super keen on it though,” MacPhee said, explaining that she offered to help start the downsizing process by cleaning out Mama Belle’s basement.
Little did she know, cleaning out that basement would lead to a TikTok video that has now garnered over 37-million views, nearly 3.5-million likes and around 50,000 new followers.
There’s nothing too special about the video, which is a continuous shot of MacPhee and Mama Belle over three minutes and 35 seconds.
In the viral clip, MacPhee sits her mom down to tell her that she sold a pair of her old teak chairs for a combined $1,800, enough to cover the cost of downsizing and a little holiday for Mama Belle.
“Everybody seems to be enamored by my mom’s reaction,” MacPhee explained. “It’s so sweet, and that was the whole reason I shot the video because I knew she was going to be so happy and relieved.”
When MacPhee began the stressful process of helping her mom sell off belongings to move into a retirement home, she simply took pictures of several items and threw them up on Facebook Marketplace.
The teak chair that turned into a viral moment was initially tagged with a price of $30.
After being bombarded with messages about the various pieces of furniture, MacPhee got a call on Oct. 19 from a man who offered her $1,000 for the chair.
When the man came over to pick it up, she showed him another teak chair and he quickly offered her another $500.
Although she declined initially, he called back later and upped his offer to $800.
![<who>Photo Credit: Contributed</who>Pam (R) with Mama Belle during her most recent visit to Kelowna.](/files/files/images/pammamabelle(1).JPG)
Overwhelmed with the sheer volume of messages she was receiving online, she decided to take the additional $800 and be one step closer to finishing the process.
MacPhee was blown away by the windfall and excited to share the good news with Mama Belle, so she asked her husband to record the special moment.
She wanted to share it with friends on Facebook or Instagram, but it was too long to post, so she decided to throw it up on her TikTok account instead.
The video went up close to midnight on Saturday, Oct. 19, and when she woke up in the morning, it surprisingly had 100,000 views.
But it was later that day when the video truly blew up.
Exhausted by the Marketplace process, MacPhee and her husband decided to take in a movie.
Her phone had died and she was glad it did, but as they left the theatre and her husband checked his phone, he told her that she needed to get hers turned on immediately.
The simple 215-second clip of her moment with mom had exploded to 11-million views, and MacPhee was gaining more likes, comments and followers by the minute.
@kelownapam Not gonna lie this has been one crazy week. I did have the presence of mind to roll some video as my husband is filling me in on discovering what it actually means when millions of people look at your profile. 🤣🤣🙀(and yes, I am exhausted as I look because I spent the entire day cleaning my mom‘s basement not knowing 11 million people had been watching my video) 🤣) I’ll go live tomorrow and fill you guys in on the chairs. I literally just got home.
♬ original sound - Kelowna Pam
Her post has continued to explode over the past 10 days and it has come with a lot of questions about the chairs, which she says people are desperate to know more about.
While she does plan to share photos and information about the chairs soon, MacPhee admits she’s a little nervous herself to learn more about them.
“What if I did screw up and sell these chairs for way too little?”
But at the end of the day, Mama Belle is thrilled and the man who bought the chairs plans to use them in his home to go with his existing vintage aesthetic, not sell them for profit, so it’s a win-win.
The big chair reveal will likely come during the first episode of “A Talk with Mom,” a new podcast MacPhee plans to launch with Mama Belle in November.
Inspired by the response to their simple yet heartwarming video, the podcast will feature “heartfelt and hilarious chats” with “timeless motherly wisdom and a glimpse of the world through her seasoned eyes.”
“Each episode feels like a cozy visit with your own mom or grandma, blending nostalgia, laughter and a bit of that classic advice we all need,” MacPhee told KelownaNow. “Together, we reminisce, reflect and laugh – a journey that’s both emotional and uplifting.”
As for her newfound social media fame, MacPhee says she might have to adjust her TikTok use a bit to appease her newfound army of followers, but she’ll remain true to her roots.
“I absolutely love living in Kelowna. I think we live in the most beautiful place on Earth. I think our city has really suffered of late,” she explained, talking about recent wildfires, agriculture struggles and dips in tourism. “So I’m more than eager to keep pushing how great life in Kelowna is.”
At this rate, MacPhee might land herself a freelance social media gig with Tourism Kelowna!