HelloFresh boss buys in Bronte

The HelloFresh Australia home food delivery founder - who was a Masterchef contestant - Thomas Rutledge has spent $4.5 million on a Bronte home.

Tom's time on Masterchef wasn't quite the full celebrity contestant cooking journey.

He did make it into the final televised 24, but was the first to be eliminated in the 2011 series.

The former wine merchant paid for his own niceness by putting his own head on the chopping block in the cook-off, having failed to captain his team to victory in the group challenge.

He lost by one point to Sydney foodie, design teacher and good friend Kumar Pereira after cooking a Lebanese baklava, tempura vegetables and prawn and chicken wings.

The pair were given the key ingredients for the favourite meals of Abla Ahmet, Shaun Presland and Matt Preston, all without cooking directions or instructions.

Tom described his time as a cook on Masterchef as being in 'purgatory' on his LinkedIn page.

The resort-style family entertainer at Bronte is classic Hamptons style meets laid-back beach house, as marketed by Alexander Phillips and David Tyrell.

The original 1920's freestanding home has undergone extensive renovation. It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Tucked away from the beach on 505 sqm, the freestanding home comes with large open plan living and dining and a custom designed kitchen.

The living areas spill out onto a level back yard lawn with the 11 metre heated swimming pool the focal point.

The home was marketed as the biggest on the street on its sale by the Melbourne-bound banker, Anthony Kritikides.

Founded in Germany in 2011, Rutledge brought HelloFresh, a grocery delivery service, into the Australian market in 2012.

The subscription service delivers weekly meals kits of fresh food and recipes to customers.

The company is headquartered in Berlin and also operates in the Netherlands, Australia, UK, France and the US. It's reported it delivers more than a million meals a month.

Last year it raised $161 million in fresh capital from its existing shareholders.

Following Tom's exit from Masterchef, he teamed up with then fiancee Clementine to create a new online grocery service, Mr Perkins & Co, but the company struggled for sustainability.

The couple wed in Centennial Park in 2011.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.