MasterChef South Africa is back with its sixth season, showcasing 20 extraordinarily talented home cooks all vying for the coveted title and a grand prize of R1 million.
The highly anticipated season premiered on Sunday and features an esteemed judging panel comprising Zola Nene, Justine Drake, and Chef Katlego Mlambo, who are set to challenge the contestants and elevate the competition to new heights.
This year’s contestants bring a diverse array of backgrounds, experiences, and culinary philosophies that promise to captivate viewers week after week.
Meet four of the contestants: Jeshen Govender, Keith Reddy, Suhael Raghunath and Ali Sonday.
- Before he carved out his career in Sandton, Johannesburg, as a tax consultant specialising in VAT, 31-year-old Jeshen Govender spent his life as part of a close-knit Durban family whose lives revolved around food.
Some of his earliest childhood memories unfolded at his grandparents’ catering business, where the skills, stamina, and intricate planning required to prepare dishes for sometimes up to 500 guests fascinated him. Then, he also remembers the wholesome times he and his cousins cosied up in the comforting hum of his family’s favourite gathering spot, their Ava’s busy kitchen.
With so much culinary DNA in his blood, it was only a matter of time before this gentle, talented future food star got his feet wet. And so, an ever-evolving passion for different tastes and textures ensued. Today, Govender's sensational dishes, drawing on his South African Indian heritage and travels abroad, are not only a symphony of flavours but also a feast for the eye.
Every morsel of food he serves reflects his obsession with attention to detail. This all makes sense when you know that he is also a part-time food photographer. Still, simplicity is his culinary mantra. “Good food comes from care and curiosity, not complexity,” he explains.
- Keith Reddy, 38, originally from Durban and now living in the East Rand, is an HR manager for two contact centres, overseeing a portfolio of around 1,000 employees. Whether at work or in the kitchen, Reddy is admired for his calm, detail-oriented, problem-solving approach.
While his extensive work-life experience across several African countries (from Mozambique and Namibia to Tanzania and Burkina Faso) has already added a medley of country-specific foods and flavours to his expansive culinary repertoire and Indian cuisine heritage, he continues to explore novel ways to enrich his cooking.
Meanwhile, Reddy is passionate about the smoky pleasure of fireside cooking, organic, farm-to-table produce, and sustainably and ethically sourced meats. In line with these values, he maintains a small urban garden where he grows a variety of herbs, vegetables and chillies.
Although everyone speaks highly of his eclectic yet wholesome food, his biggest fans are his wife and his nine-year-old daughter, who is already a little food connoisseur.
Unsurprisingly, Reddy’s food bucket list includes visiting Japan with his family to draw inspiration from the country’s vibrant food scene.
“But I also want to eat my way through all the small towns in our country to delve into our diverse food stories,” he says.
- Suhael Raghunath, 28, is a Durbanite whose pensive nature, boundless curiosity, and relentless drive for perfection make him a powerhouse in the kitchen.
As a picky eater in childhood, Raghunath was first drawn to the stove when his inquisitiveness led him to find ingredients that would upgrade his mom’s tried-and-tested family recipes to suit his taste. Over time, this turned into a passionate hobby, shaped by experimentation and hours spent learning from YouTube channels.
Besides constantly soaking up knowledge to enhance his cooking skills, his culinary philosophy is also grounded in another of his favourite pastimes – karate and Muay Thai.
That explains why the teachings of martial arts are clearly noticeable when you see him in action, when preparing his masterpieces-in-the-making. Precision. Discipline. Focus. Resilience. Self-improvement.
“I always push myself to do better in the kitchen and love how the chaos drives you closer and closer to excellence,” said Raghunath.
However, when it comes to seafood, this versatile home cook’s speciality, those who have tasted his scrumptious dishes will argue there is little room for improvement. The hero ingredient in these meals might also have been reeled in by avid fisherman Raghunath himself.
- Ali Sonday, 30, from Paarl in the Western Cape, obtained his law degree cum laude and is a senior attorney at a Cape Town law firm established in the early 1800s, where he specialises in employment law and commercial litigation.
Beyond the courtroom, Sonday's passion for food stems from his upbringing in a close-knit Muslim community and from a particularly beloved childhood space – his family’s local convenience store, filled with the smell of hot oil, the warm notes of Indian spices, and his mother’s delicious homemade rotis, atchars, salomies and samosas.
While his food style is firmly grounded in his culinary heritage, it also draws on the punchy cuisine of Asia, which he savoured in fine dining restaurants and at vibrant street markets.
As he summarises: “My food represents my roots, is globally inspired and experientially creative. It feels both familiar and adventurous.”
Sonday is also an avid Formula 1 fan, and his international travels often revolve around attending Grand Prix races, which he considers the perfect excuse to explore the cuisine of the host countries. Now, he is ready to set the wheels in motion toward the MasterChef South Africa finishing line. If he wins the competition, two food trucks are on the way.
Catch MasterChef SA on e-tv at 6pm. It will re-broadcast on Saturdays at 5pm.
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