An academic who became a viral sensation when his BBC interview was ruined by his two young children has marked the seventh anniversary of his unexpected fame.
Political analyst Robert E Kelly had been speaking to the company in 2017 in a segment about North Korea when his then-four-year-old daughter Marion burst into the room with her brother James hot on her heels in his walker.
The hilarious clip, which has since been viewed millions of times on the internet, saw Professor Kelly – a professor of political science at Pusan National University in South Korea – cutting through and ignoring the chaos behind him as his wife Jung-a rushed around. into the room to remove their excited children.
Seven years later, the father-of-two, who became known as ‘BBC dad’ after the disastrous clip, has reshared the video and released new photos of his fast-growing children to mark the occasion.
The doting dad today released photos of the family celebrating Marion’s 11th birthday, along with images of them celebrating Christmas and walking near their home.
Robert E Kelly shared photos of his adorable children seven years after they became famous by interrupting his BBC interview. Pictured: Marion cutting a cake for her eleventh birthday as James looks on
Professor Kelly takes a selfie with his wife Jung-a and their children Marion and James
The political analyst shared this photo of him walking with his son James on Sunday morning
He also posted a photo of him and his daughter Marion trekking through the hills of South Korea
Sharing a clip of the famous interview on X, formerly known as Twitter, Prof Kelly wrote: ‘BBC Dad content Today marks the 7th anniversary of the BBC Dad blooper. So here it is again, with some recent family photos in the thread below.’
He then posted four photos of his family celebrating Marion’s birthday, with the 11-year-old sharing a photo of concentration as she cut a cake, as well as a photo of Robert and James hiking in South Korea.
He wrote: ‘These are from Marion’s birthday party today, and James and I are walking this morning.’
This was followed by four more photos, one of him and Marion walking today, and three taken at Christmas last year.
In one, the children can be seen posing for a photo with Santa, while in another they treat themselves to an ice cream.
He added: “Another walking photo and some Christmas photos from 2023.”
Since the viral clip, Prof. Kelly kept his followers on social media up to date with the adventures of his mischievous children.
Last year he revealed Marion learned to play the flute, while James won a football trophy alongside his hobby of ‘making trouble’.
The doting dad also shared a photo of Marion and James getting a visit from Santa Claus over Christmas
In another photo, Prof Kelly is seen smiling as Marion and James eat ice cream in a cafe
In another image, Marion is seen wearing a pink and white hanbok as she poses with her mother Jung-a
In the sweet photos posted in September, Professor Kelly’s angelic children looked like butter wouldn’t melt as Marion held her flute while dressed in her school uniform and James held up his trophy.
The father-of-two also shared a photo of the siblings kissing their mother – who also appeared in the hilarious video as she rushed into the room to pull them out – on each cheek.
Professor Kelly wrote about what his little ones are up to: “Marion recently had a flute performance. She got very excited. And James, well, he’s good at causing trouble.”
He posted the photos of James on the field and added: “Okay. Here’s James with his football team. So not just a troublemaker.’
On the sixth anniversary of the interview, he said: “Thanks again to all of you who follow me (because of) the video. My family and I are flattered by your kindness.”
After the interview became an internet sensation, Marion and James even became the stars of a cartoon series.
Marion became Mina, James became Jack and their father is a UN official, but the family is instantly recognizable and their mother is a yoga teacher, just like in real life.
But the creator of the series has developed the character of Marion/Mina and has her solve crimes and follow her father to North Africa on the trail of a gold thief.
In 2018, Robert took to Twitter to explain how the “weird” experience made the family “happier,” helped him empathize with fellow parents, and made him and his wife’s bond with their children “even closer.”
Kelly had forgotten to lock his office door during the interview, allowing the children to enter.
The parents did not punish the children for interrupting the interview because they were too small to understand that they had done something wrong.