Mitchell Pritchett is part of the crazy gang over on Modern Family. As the husband to Cameron, father to Lily, son to Jay, and brother to Claire, Mitchell is a large part of this family that we’ve all come to know and love.
As a lawyer, Mitchell takes his job very seriously and we see him struggle with what kind of law he wants to stick with throughout the show’s 11 seasons. Although he may not be the best lawyer, we know the compassion in his heart makes him a good person. But every good person has their flaws, and Mitchell has them, too.
Mitchell has done some pretty shady things over the past 236+ episodes the show has had. He’ll lie if it saves face, he has his tough sister do his dirty work, and he jumps to conclusions—and acts on them—before finding out the whole story. Don’t get us wrong, Mitchell is lovable but here are 10 of his biggest mistakes.
WHEN HE HAD CLAIRE TELL CAM HE LOOKED BAD IN BIKE SHORTS
In the episode “Strangers on a Treadmill,” Camerson starts working out again and he’s proud of his efforts and changing body. To follow his new lifestyle, he begins wearing bike shorts around town. The only problem is, Mitchell doesn’t think Cam looks good in bike shorts and thinks they’re rather…transparent.
Instead of sitting Cameron down and having a conversation about this graphic shorts, he makes his sister Claire do it for him. Cameron went to the other room and cried, of course, but he felt even more betrayed when he heard it was Mitchell who made her say that.
WHEN HE HAD CLAIRE CLEAN HIS HOUSE SO THAT CAM THOUGHT HE WAS A BETTER STAY-AT-HOME DAD
In the fourth season, the roles are reversed for Mitchell and Cameron. With Mitchell in between jobs and Cameron being the school’s newest music teacher, it’s now Mitchell’s turn to be a stay-at-home dad with Lily. But in a classic Mitchell way, he has too much pride to tell Cam how hard it is (because Cameron does it every day) so he lies about how easy it is. In reality, Mitchell lost Lily in the grocery store and doesn’t have enough time to cook and clean.
Instead of being honest with Cameron about how hard of a day he had, he secretly hired Claire to cook a delicious meal and clean the house — as if Mitchell could do it all. This greatly upset Cam because he felt like a subpar father for not being able to do it all himself.
THE TIME HE THOUGHT HE FATHERED HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND’S CHILD
In the episode “Our Children, Ourselves,” Mitchell runs into his ex-girlfriend, Tracy. In an awkward encounter, Tracy turned down their invitation to meet up again and left suddenly. That’s when Mitchell saw Tracy holding hands with a young red-headed boy. Instead of asking Tracy if they had a child together—without him knowing about it—he jumps the gun and assumes it’s his.
He and Cam try to approach this situation respectfully, so they go out and buy t-ball equipment for his supposed “son.” But as soon as they walked into Tracy’s home, they realize she didn’t have a young red-headed child, she had a short red-headed husband. This made it all the more awkward when he opened his little leaguer’s equipment…
THE WAY HE MAKES FUN OF CAM’S UPBRINGING
Mitchell may have always lived in Southern California but Cameron is from Missouri. Throughout the years, we’ve heard how proud Cam is to come from a farming background and wishes Lily had the same upbringing. They even spent a summer together on Cameron’s family’s property for a taste of farm life.
However, instead of being proud of Cameron’s love for his childhood and home-state, Mitchell belittles it. He constantly makes a point about how miserable Missouri is and hates it when Cam’s accent comes out.
HE LEGALLY MADE LILY’S LAST NAME HIS (NOT CAM’S)
When Cameron and Mitchell adopted Lily, they planned on giving her a joint last name: Lily Tucker-Pritchett. As we later find out, while Cameron is going through Lily’s adoption paperwork he learns Lily’s last name isn’t Tucker at all — it’s Pritchett. Her middle name was Tucker.
Distraught, he faced Mitchell for the truth. And as it turns out, Mitchell did this on purpose. The two weren’t married and because of Cameron’s spontaneous nature, Mitch didn’t want to be left alone with a child baring the same last name as the man who left them. And while that’s a very deep reason to do what he did, it’s also pretty low.
WHEN HE LIED ABOUT HIS DAD HITTING A HOLE IN ONE
In season three’s episode “Virgin Territory,” the Pritchett family decides to go around at brunch and say all the things they’ve done wrong. And while it started off funny, things got dark when Jay found out Mitchell lied about his hole-in-one years back.
Jay couldn’t see past this betrayal because he was now known around the course for making a hole-in-one. His friends even call him ace! The two make up, of course, but fans didn’t know how Jay was going to bounce back from that one.
RUINING HIS NEW FRIEND’S CARPET AND BLAMING IT ON HER CHILD
The episode “Caught in the Act” proved how Mitchell and Cameron can get into some pretty shady things. After trying to get into this new restaurant for months, they learn that Lily’s new classmate’s mom is the owner of said restaurant. As a way to get into the restaurant, they befriend her. However, their luck changes when they ruin a very expensive rug of hers and blame it on her son.
The problem is, Mitch said her son spilled a strawberry juice pack… but her son is actually allergic to strawberries, making her go into panic mode and these two having to confess everything.
HE SPENT CAMERON’S FAMILY INHERITANCE ON PAYING HIS DAD BACK
Later in the series, Cameron learns that an old uncle of his left him a hefty sum after his passing. Without really asking Cameron what he wanted to do with all that money, he immediately suggested buying the upstairs apartment. Luckily, Cameron was on board (after he planned on returning Lily’s fur, of course).
Later in the episode, the whole family is hanging out at Jay and Gloria’s when Mitchell feels pressured to pay his dad back—with Cam’s money—for giving them the downpayment for their home. The problem is that he never even asked Cameron if that was okay.
HE GOT RID OF FIZBO
The Tucket-Pritchett’s decide on hosting Thanksgiving one year with a farm theme. With baby animals running around and haystacks everywhere, the only person that truly loved it was Cameron and the kids. However, throughout Cam’s big day of hosting, Mitch tells him that he accidentally got rid of Fizbo; Cam’s clown alter-ego.
Cameron handled it pretty well considering, but knowing how much Cam loved Fizbo (and how much Mitchell hated it), was it really an accident?
HE BURIED THE WEDDING TOPPER MADE BY CAMERON’S FATHER
As Mitch and Cam were planning their wedding, there were many speedbumps on the road. From conflicting ideas to venues, these two didn’t have much fun planning their own wedding. However, their luck was turning after Cameron’s #FarmStrong dad gave them his blessing and widdled a cake topper for the two of them.
Cameron saw this cake topper as a sign of acceptance and love, Mitchell saw it demeaning. He hated that topper and tried to break it and burry it every time Cam wasn’t looking, not even thinking about how much Cam loved it.
