Local 'The Amazing Race' Winner Talks BHS

The Amazing Race winner and Beachwood native Cindy Chiang credits both her strict upbringing and her education at Beachwood schools for her

With her fiancé Ernie Halvorsen, Chiang competed against pairs for a month, traveling to 20 cities on four continents to complete physical and mental challenges for the grand prize.

Their trek included a not-seen-on-TV moment when Chiang and Halvorsen were riding an elephant down a river in Phuket, Thailand. “The elephant toppled,” said Halvorsen — and as if being trapped between an elephant and a giant rock wasn’t frightening enough, the elephant in front of the couple had taken a moment to relieve himself. In the No. 2 fashion.

“So I had this fear of this disgusting thing heading toward my face on top of this fear of my leg being crushed by an elephant,” Halvorsen laughed.

Luckily, the elephant keeper poked the massive animal in just the right way to get him to stand — no crushed leg or other…mishaps.

“I have to be honest with you, honey. That was really funny for me,” quipped Chiang.

Chiang said that her background in Beachwood helped her win the race.

“I think the education there couldn’t have been better education for where I am today,” she said.

She attended from kindergarten through high school and was the editor of the yearbook, a cartoonist for student newspaper The Beachcomber, a member of student council and practiced martial arts at the for six years. “I’m the kind of person who has a hard time saying no,” she laughed.

From BHS, Chiang attended the University of Cincinnati, where she was Homecoming Queen in 2004 and graduated with honors, and worked a stint at Proctor & Gamble. She moved on to Northwestern University, where she earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Northwestern University in 2010.

Now Chiang works as a brand manager at Kraft.

Her parents always expected a lot from her, she said. In fact, when the cast and their families gathered in New York Sunday to watch the finale for the first time, her parents were not even surprised that she won.

“My dad said, loud enough for everyone to hear, ‘Yeah, that’s right. I expected it,’” laughed Chiang. “And it’s kind of funny because it’s like, can’t you just be excited for us?”

Chiang’s favorite destination on the Race was Taiwan, where her parents grew up. In fact, her younger brother was working in Taiwan when she and Halvorsen were there for the taping, but the couple was not allowed to tell him.

The couple plans to use the million-dollar prize money to start a business to educate Americans about health and obesity. But, Chiang noted, the for-profit will have a social mission: a portion of the proceeds will go to fund education in emerging countries, including Cambodia – the couple’s “favorite place on Earth,” said Chiang – where a year of school costs about $25.

“The people are so nice and the culture is so rich and it’s a great place for us to be able to impact,” she added.

Visit the couple’s blog here.