Nairobi, March 5 -- In 2010, he was already making headlines as a brilliant student. The Kenyan-born teenager had just finished his final high school exams in South Africa with eight distinctions, equivalent to straight A grades. His performance earned him a feature in the media where he spoke with quiet confidence about his dream of becoming a doctor.

More than a decade later, that dream has come true.

Today, Philip Munda, 33, is a general surgeon working in South Africa. He spends his days inside hospital theatres performing complex procedures and responding to life-threatening emergencies.

But outside the hospital, he is stepping into a very different kind of pressure. Philip is among the contestants on MasterChef South Africa Seaso...