'Ma who?' Jeff Koinange's upper class demeanour breaks the internet, inspires memes

The episode, which saw posh Jeff Koinange venture into the backstreets to try out the "common mwananchi's" delicacies, immediately gripped the nation's attention, with hundreds of thousands of Kenyans trooping to the Citizen TV YouTube channel to catch the "cool kid" try his hand at regular meals, prepared by the dusty roadside.

To the average TV consumer in Kenya, Jeff Koinange belongs to the bourgeoisie class of Kenyans, brought up in aristocratic environments, educated in elite schools, taught imperial manners, and shielded by a royal existence away from the everyday struggles of everyday Kenyans.

Therefore, it came as a shock to many to watch this princely TV star, with a booming voice and that Buckingham Palace English, drive his Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon to a makeshift 'kibanda', mingle with 'Mama Ntilie' and proceed to sit on a rickety bench as he tore into 'Kuku Wet Fry' and a third-grade serving of rice.

Oh, and occasionally blinded by smoke, a cacophony of street noises, and surrounded by regular joes.

At first, Jeff appears uneasy, almost queasy, as he arrives at the 'Kibandaski' accompanied by an animated Igunza who, clearly, has mastered his way around the streets and has savoured a Kibanda meal a little too often.

A spirited Igunza seeks to ease Jeff into the evident culture shock, cavalierly saying: "Umezoea Kempinski. Mimi nimezoea Kibandaski. Leo unataka kusosi nini? Kienyeji ama broiler?"

As they settle down, a clearly confused Jeff is looking around, wondering where the waiters are, and immediately inquiring whether he can be ushered into the kitchen to inspect his food.

"Hakuna waiter? Mbona hana uniform? So, this is where you eat? Chakula iko fresh? Si twende tuone! I have to see what I'm eating..." he tells Igunza.

As 'Mama Ntilie' explains the array of meals available for the pair to pick, Igunza seeks to make the session lighter, but things turn hilarious pretty fast.

"Utakula nini mzae?" Igunza asks.

"Not matumbo for sure men... Never!" Jeff snaps. 

"Managu?" Igunza proposes.

"Ma Who?" Jeff retorts, startled.

For the next 20 minutes, the Hot 96 pair settles to dine, with Jeff taking more than a handful of breaks to wonder, ask questions, drop compliments, seek explanations and just marvel at the implausibility of it all.

He's taken aback by everything - from the nature of the meal, to the pricing, to even the simplest matter of table etiquette.

The episode gets juicier (no pun intended) with Igunza taking time to carefully coach Jeff on how to tear into a chicken drumstick - and what to do with the skin and inner bone meat.

"Maliza kuna nyama hapo... Toa yote... Kula meen! Haaay, crunch the bone!" Igunza prods.

Soon, everything explodes into a goofy culture clash that leaves Kenyans at the edge of their seats.

On TikTok, Jeff's soundbites quickly found a new life, with creators using his incredulity as the perfect audio to recreate their own skits, racking up hundreds of thousands of views themselves.

Jeff's palpable shock at the thought of eating 'Matumbo', or his tactile revulsion at the mention of 'Managu', appears to have been the magic moment which blew away viewers, with many social media users recreating the scene, commenting on it, expressing shock and basically delving into the wild ridiculousness of the rare encounter.

"We need a full Reality TV show about Jeff Koinange's lifestyle....wdym hajui anything associated with poverty? Wow! He needs to show us his ways. You mean there are people who have never interacted with a Mama Mboga?" James Kamau asked on X.

The memes started flying too, with someone sharing a still picture from the episode with the caption: "Jeff Koinange akikuja kwa Bedsitter yako "'Oh my! And were is the rest of the house?'"

Another said: "Jeff Koinange akikuja kwangu aone curtains atasema ‘Oomaii Oomaii do you people practice Drama Festival here?"

The first of many such episodes itself has become a shattering success, clocking over 700,000 YouTube views in just six days, racking up a staggering 7.6 million views on TikTok, boasting over 600,000 'LIKES' and becoming an exceptionally good social media success.

"Whether Jeff Koinange has never been to a Kibanda is neither here nor there. The way they pulled off that skit is the work of a master director. The pairing, the scripting, the dialogue, the protagonists, the juxtaposition, everything is cinema gold! We need more of this!" Dylan Gavin wrote on X.