helicopter parent?

Kalon McMahon's mom sticks up for Bachelorette loser: He's clever and real, notcruel

It all happened so quickly . . . Never fear though, rumor has it that Houstonnative Kalon McMahon has been cast for Bachelor Pad 3, which premiers July 23.
Kalon McM/Twitter
Since he was 13-years-old, Kalon has helped raise funds and awareness forCitizens for Animal Protection (CAPS), a Houston non-profit dedicated tosheltering and adopting area pets.
Team KJRM
That's right, now you too can have your "Baggage" casual wear and tote bags.
Team KJRM
For the duration of this season's Bachelorette, the reality star will be sellinga line of logo merchandise. All proceeds go to CAPS.
Team KJRM

After sifting through dozens of fake Kalon McMahon accounts to reach the Houston reality star after his dramatic departure from The Bachelorette, CultureMap finally made contact Tuesday morning with a real person — Kalon's mom, Merrick Stern.

Managing her son's press traffic while he's out of town for the month (reportedly filming Bachelor Pad 3), Stern says she's relieved to be able to share some of her thoughts now that Kalon's off the show. Of course, Kalon's departure came with plenty of "baggage" with him becoming an Internet uber villain for his cracks on bachelorette single mom Emily Maynard's daughter Ricki.

"I actually thought it was hilarious what he said about life with Emily being a non-stop group date," she laughs. "It's such a classic Kalonism — funny, clever and very real."

"It's such a classic Kalonism — funny, clever and very real.".

CultureMap was curious about what it was like to watch her son spend five weeks as this season's villain.

"At first, I was hurt by all the negative things I read online," Stern says. "Then Kalon was like 'Mom . . . really?' He told me not to take life so seriously and that all that stuff is part of the show.

"He was totally right, of course, but it took me a while to stop reading a lot of the articles on the Internet."

Even as Maynard called her son "a terrible human being" on Monday night, Stern says she managed to stomach some of the harsher moments Kalon faced and, to a degree, relate with Maynard's situation.

"I know some people will hate him for what he said about baggage," Mom Kalon says. "Being a single mom myself, I'd be totally defensive too. Honestly, though, I think Emily actually liked Kalon quite a bit and that's why she blew up at him so much."

When asked why Kalon didn't fight harder to defend himself, Stern says Kalon told his family he was ready to leave the competition at that point. (Click here for a rather compelling defense of Kalon's run posted on the entertainment blog Wetpaint.)

"When he came home we were all very concerned for him, but he laughed and said he just didn't want to be there anymore," Stern says. "He doesn't feel bad about anything that happened and, in the end, I think it's turned out to be a great experience for him."

Right now, she suspects former nice guy Ryan Bowers will take her son's place as the show's new bad boy. "That guy seems to be in it to win it . . . This is a TV contest after all. "

For the duration of Bachelorette season eight, Kalon is selling shirts and bags featuring his catch phrase "Baggage: Everybody has it. Depends on how you use it" from his TEAM KJRM website. All proceeds go to Citizens for Animal Protection (CAPS), a Houston non-profit for which the local reality star has been raising funds since he was 13 years old. Don't miss the video from 1999, by the way.

The third season of Bachelor Pad will reportedly kick off July 23 at 7 p.m. — mark your calendars.

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In the spotlight

Houston reels in new rank among 10 best cities for filmmakers in 2026

Photo by Kyle Loftus on Unsplash

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Houston has just snapped up new recognition as the No. 10 best place to live and work as a filmmaker in North America, according to MovieMaker Magazine's annual report, "The Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2026."

The Bayou City has made improvements after ranking 12th in the magazine's 2025 list.

The annual list ranks the best cities in the U.S. and Canada for individuals to live while working in the film industry, based on production spending, tax incentives, cost of living, the prevalence of "local film scenes," and additional factors. The list is divided into two categories: 25 big cities and 10 smaller cities or towns.

The spotlighted cities are the places where the publication believes filmmakers "have the best chance of both succeeding in the famously difficult entertainment industry, and making [their] own art."

For up-and-coming filmmakers that want to live in Texas, MovieMaker says doing it in Houston is "more sustainable than ever" thanks to incentives like the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, which increased its production grant rebate from 22.5 percent to up to 31 percent for qualified in-state spending. The report also said Houston has an "arms-wide-open" approach for filmmakers.

"As the biggest city in Texas, and fourth biggest city in America, Houston has nearly every type of location, from cityscapes to piney woods to rolling hills to nearby farmland," the report said. "It’s close to Galveston Island and the Gulf of Mexico, and car commercials love the absence of billboard advertising."

MovieMaker also highlighted Houston's diversity, its low cost of living compared to the national average, and its local festivals like the Houston Cinema Arts Festival and Houston Latino Film Festival.

"The city has enough film crew for two to three sizable features, and recent shoots have included the thrillers Eleven Days, with Taylor Kitsch, and A Love, from director Courtney Glaude, Tyler Perry Studios’ executive creator of Scripted and Unscripted," the report said. "Houston is also notable for a strong contingent of films with budgets under $1 million."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin ranked as the No. 5 best place to live and work as a filmmaker in North America. Dallas ranked seventh, while neighboring Fort Worth ranked 12th. San Antonio appeared as No. 14, and El Paso landed 25th on the list.

filmmaking moviemaker magazine rankings city life entertainment houston