'Legendary' Finale: House of Balmain are the surprising winners as they beat Lanvins to take home $100,000
Season 1 of 'Legendary' started with eight notable houses from the ballroom scene participating in the show. House of West, St Laurent, Ebony, Ninja, Gorgeous Gucci, Escada, Lanvin and Balmain came into the show to claim $100,000 that was up for grabs, the highest prize money ever in ballroom history.
Over the past six weeks, five houses faced elimination, leaving the Escadas, Lanvins and Balmains competing in the finale ball. All three houses took to the stage in the finale episode but only two moved forward in the competition — Balmains and Lanvins. Both houses were required to engage in a final showdown and claim the Legendary title as well as the cash prize.
For the final battle, each member of both houses was required to go head to head against each other, displaying the five elements of vogue. For hand performance, Father of the Balmains, Jamari and Carlos Lanvin came to the fore. For the second element, Eyricka Lanvin and Cali Balmain came forward to display their best runway. Showing off their duckwalk prowess was Torie Balmain and Makaylah Lanvin. This was followed by Packrat and Gravity Balmain battling each other while showing off their floor performance abilities.
For the last element: Spins and Dips, Calypso Balmain and ZayZay Lanvin engaged in the battle and brought on dramatic dips and pirouettes that could easily match up to the abilities of the biggest ballet stars.
The battle was now over and it was time for judges to decide the house they'd like to hand out the title to. Earlier on, Jameela Jamil was heard saying that she worried about how the Lanvins didn't push themselves to the best of their abilities because they knew they were strong. However, on the other hand, they were the ones who won the title of Superior House more times than anyone else in the competition. The Balmains, however, hadn't secured that title even once in the competition, in spite of presenting fabulous performances. It was anyone's battle at the time but the Balmains stood out to the judges and were announced the winners of the competition.
You can tune into this episode which is now streaming on HBO Max.