As a Kiwi novelist who writes gritty crime mysteries, Vanda Symon is loving every moment of being a contestant on New Zealand’s newest TV phenomenon, The Traitors NZ.
The reality competition, hosted by Paul Henry, pits a group of 19 contestants, made up of celebrities and everyday people, in a murder-mystery situation. Contestants dubbed “Faithfuls” have to figure out who among them are the “Traitors” – those assigned to eliminate or “murder” the guests one by one with the chance of winning the $70,000 prize money.
The show appealed to Vanda, 54, because of the murder-mystery element, especially because it means she’s surrounded by a bunch of strangers who are forced to be with each other and have to figure out who is being deceptive and trying to get rid of their peers. It reminded her of a scenario straight out of an old-school detective novel.
“I thought about Agatha Christie or Dame Ngaio Marsh, who often put their characters in a closed-room scenario where people couldn’t escape.”
Of course, being a crime writer, the other contestants put a target on Vanda’s back, immediately assuming she was one of the “Traitors”.
“People were wondering if underneath that soft, fuzzy exterior, could there be this beating heart of darkness,” she confides.
“Being a crime writer, you are always looking at behaviours and how people interact with each other, and being inherently suspicious of everybody. You can see the good in people, but you can also see the potential dark and grey areas.”
Celebrity contestant Colin Mathura-Jeffree gave her a villainess nickname on the first day. He called her Darth Vanda, based on the famous Star Wars villain.
“I was secretly thrilled with the nickname because I’m a huge Star Wars nerd.”
Despite the accusations, Vanda is still competing in the game and she’s relishing every moment.
“The experience has allowed me to step away from my normal self, a person who likes to wear slippers and sip on cups of tea.
“I’m naturally a quiet, observing person. So to go into a situation where I can play a role and put on a façade was so much fun.”
From chime to crime! The show’s mix of deceit and cunning is Vanda’s bread and butter!
In her normal life, the writer juggles her full-time job at the University of Otago in Dunedin with writing crime novels. Her work as a research fellow in the health science department focuses on Pacific health.
“For me, I need the balance of having a working life as well as a writing life,” explains Vanda, who has Fijian heritage. “All things are fodder, like your interactions with people. I would be too tunnel-visioned if I was writing full-time and potentially lose the joy of it.
“I am considered a successful writer in New Zealand, but that doesn’t make me enough money to pay my mortgage. The majority of writers have to have other employment and work around that.”
As a child growing up in Tauranga, Vanda always had her head in a book. She loved reading, but also had a passion for science. When she left school, Vanda studied to become a pharmacist and worked in the industry for many years.
After she gave birth to her sons, Riley, 23, and Corey, 21, Vanda made the decision to quit her job as a pharmacist to focus on raising her children and pursue her passion for writing.
She chose to write crime fiction and murder mysteries because of her love of the genre. It took four years to complete her first crime novel and she was lucky to immediately secure a book deal with Penguin Publishers.
WIN: We’ve got five copies of Vanda Symon’s latest thriller Expectant (Orenda Books and distributed by Upstart Press, rrp $27.99) to give away. To enter, email [email protected] with “Expectant” in the subject line, plus your full name and address. Entries close September 10. Good luck!
“It’s not about the whodunit, but the whydunit,” she tells. “What set of circumstances would have brought an individual to commit such an extraordinary act upon someone else? To take someone’s life is not a small thing. That’s far more interesting than how did they get there.”
She says a wild imagination and real-life situations inspire the plots in her books. In 2018, she completed a PhD at the University of Otago, with a thesis on science in crime fiction. Her series of novels centres around her main heroine detective Sam Shephard, who investigates the murders of people living in Dunedin and its surrounding areas.
“Sometimes my ideas are triggered by someone I have seen in my life and other times it’s something I’ve seen on the news,” she tells.
“I have had to push my boundaries and be prepared to go into some really dark places. Being someone who was brought up in the church and then writes about killing people makes me wonder where to draw the line. These are the things that extend you and push you out of your comfort zone.”
Watch The Traitors NZ, Mondays and Tuesdays, 7.30pm on Three.
