It's hard to hear the words "penis sheaths" and not smirk. It's harder still when Channel 4 explains that the skimpy coverings are worn by men who use pigs as currency and worship Prince Philip as a god, writes Homa Khaleeli.
Yet the islanders, from Vanuatu in the South Pacific, are taking part in Channel 4's Meet the Natives, to be broadcast from September 27 and the latest of a rash of programmes about far-flung communities that are invading our screens.
The craze started with Ray Mears and now we have Bruce Parry mixing masochism and anthropology, as he happily submits to whatever torture is meted out by any tribe he decides to spend the night with.
Donal Macintyre continued it on Channel Five with the Insect tribe from Papua New Guinea; then there was BBC3's Last Man Standing. Now the BBC has unveiled its latest offering, called Tribal Wives.
As Celebrity Big Brother is "rested", it seems tribespeople are the new reality TV stars.
The focus on anthropology allows the stations to keep up the veneer of informing viewers, alongside all the sniggering.
And with Meet the Natives Channel 4 have even promised to overturn prejudices, by handing five of the islanders cameras and shipping them off to the UK so they can gawp at how weird we are.
Along the way Channel 4 promise they will be "making wise, profound and amusing observations".
And this is the problem - when not being snidely mocked as uncivilised primitives with a novel taste in underwear, people from "tribes" are presented as noble savages. Even Bruce Parry falls prey to it, highlighting the difficulties many tribal people endure, but still waxing lyrical about their happy, contented smiles.
In the end the shows switch one stereotype for another, leaving us with no excuse for our cultural voyeurism.
