Munyaradzi Chinyanganya was born on 12 September 1987. He was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, and lived there for his first ten years before moving to Wolverhampton, where he spent his teenage years. He was born to a Scottish mother and a Zimbabwean father. His mother, Barbara McGarrity, is originally from Scotland, and he also has a sister named Rufaro.

He attended Adams’ Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire, and is a graduate of Loughborough University, where he worked on the university’s TV and radio station while a student. Following university, he pursued an attempt to join the British skeleton bobsleigh team for the 2014 Winter Olympics, though he was unsuccessful in the qualification rounds.

Before joining Blue Peter, Radzi fronted Your Body: Your Image on BBC Two, an educational series that promoted positive body image and self-esteem in schools. He also co-presented Wild on CBBC alongside Naomi Wilkinson and Tim Warwood. In October 2013, he became the 37th presenter of Blue Peter following the departure of Helen Skelton.

He is a Christian, and has described his faith as one of his driving passions. In November 2020, he announced on BBC’s Songs of Praise that his own baptism had taken place at the Roman Catholic church of St Leonard and St Fergus in Ardler, a suburb of Dundee — his mother’s hometown.