Glen Allen tacky light house wins $50k on ABC’s ‘Great Christmas Light Fight’

On Monday night’s episode, they finally appeared on the show and took home the $50,000 grand prize.

The Thompsons' display, which they call “Christmas on Wendhurst,” is located at 9716 Wendhurst Drive. It features over 170,000 lights and 1,237 homemade cut-out decorations constructed in their workshop.

On Monday night’s episode, the Glen Allen house competed against three other homes for best holiday light display, including a New Jersey home that claimed more lights on its Christmas tree than the tree at Rockefeller Center and a dancing light show in Minnesota.

The Thompsons had to get their holiday display up and ready by early October for the film crew to arrive and shoot the episode in three days.

Al recruited 400 neighbors, friends and parishioners from his church to fill the street and greet the judge Taniya Nayak when she arrived in a black SUV.

Once she got there, Al said he gave judge Taniya Nayak a tour of the display and a challenge.

“I said, I’m not like these other houses on your show, like the mansions with lights that dance to music. I’m a static display, but there are stories here. I have memorials to soldiers who have died and to different people who have passed. I make all my own decorations in my workshop. People get out of their cars and will stay here for half an hour or more.”

The film crew came back for a follow-up shoot in late October.

“It was a 12-person crew,” Al said. “They showed up in their big black SUVs. They started unloading boxes, a big boom mike. I said to Esther, ‘I think we won.’”

And they did.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Al said. “That my plywood designs went up against these massive homes and won.”

As for the cash prize, Al says that after taxes, he plans to give 10% of the winnings to their church and the rest to his wife “who has put up with me and all my craziness for 48 years.”

Esther says she wants to use the money to take a trip to Israel, which she’s been wanting to do for years.

“To be on a national show and to win it, that’s crazy," Al said. "I never thought of competing against these big time spectacular displays. I just didn’t think we had a chance.”

He added, “It’s like Richmond won. We always claim to be number one (for tacky lights). Now, this validates it.”