Beach Party

Tanna is part of a chain of islands that later came to be known as the country of Vanuatu. This is where Mark Burnett, the show's creator, got the name for the ninth season of Survivor. Had I never lived on Tanna, I might have dismissed the show as the romanticisation of a nonexistent tropical island. I would not have noticed where a silly reality show was filmed, had I not been that little girl on the plane. But I've sat on the beautiful beaches of Tanna, felt the culture, and lived with the people. Seeing it again through the lens of a CBS reality show, I could barely recognise it.