Nerds rule The Amazing Race 14

MANILA, Philippines - You’ll never know until you try. At least that’s what siblings Tammy and Victor Jih saw for themselves when they joined — and won — The Amazing Race 14 (aired via primetime telecast on Studio 23).

These self-confessed high school nerds raced across 40,000 miles around the world in 22 days, beating 11 teams along the way. From thick law books, Tammy and Victor turned to carrying a roasted pig across a beach in Hawaii, jet-skiing to find a buoy, arranging a wall of surfboards and others school didn’t teach them.

“I’ll never ever want to carry a pig again!” exclaims Tammy, 26.

Turning serious, Victor, 35, ticks off startling self-discoveries: “I saw myself in a different light. We realized we’ve become a lot less nerdy than we used to be.”

Nerdy is also how Tammy describes herself before race changed her life. Sure, she and Victor have law degrees from Harvard. But she didn’t think her body — and her brother’s — was as primed as her brain was in hurdling tough challenges.

“I’ve never been athletic,” the Asian-American admits. “I would rather read a book more than anything else.”

Turns out physique is not as important as the will to win in The Amazing Race, or any race for that matter. Tammy and Victor’s homegrown discipline, thanks to doting parents who taught them to value perseverance, won the grueling race for them.

“Looking back,” Tammy and Victor chorus, “we thank our parents for forcing us to learn their (Chinese) culture ”

Thus, even if the siblings call San Francisco home, they remain, deep inside, as hardy as the Chinese gymnasts the world gawked at during the breathtaking Beijing Olympics numbers. They may have been born and raised in the US, but their parents made sure Tammy and Victor learned the Asian’s discipline, fortitude and resilience.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the final leg of the game. Victor picked the wrong surfboards to stack against the wall at first. But this didn’t stop him from trying again and again. He ran to the pile of surfboards on the ground, turned them upside down and finally got the right ones. The rest, as they say, is Amazing Race history.

Their victory — as Studio 23 viewers back home must have felt — is not theirs alone. It’s also for Asians the world over.

Like most Asians at heart, family is tops in these winners’ list of priorities. Tammy and Victor will share their $1-M prize with dad and mom.

“I will negotiate with my mom on how much she gets,” Victor laughs (Read: Mrs. Jih will get her fair share).

Education is also a must-have. Tammy plans to spend part of the prize to pay her student loan.

Family and education — these are the values the new Amazing Race winners hold dear. These values will see them through, long after the glitter and glory of the Amazing Race have faded away. Their parents — whom Tammy and Victor admit must have felt embarrassed after seeing their odd ways of handling challenges — raised them well.

And in publicly applauding them, Tammy and Victor are living proofs that good old Eastern values are not as outdated as they seem in the oh-so-liberal West.

Yes, you can uproot the Asian from the land of his ancestors and transport him anywhere. But he will thrive, nay shine, thanks to those roots that strengthen and inspire him.

Till the next Amazing Race!