My Kitchen Rules runners-up Ibby and Romel have revealed that they were thousands of dollars out of pocket after losing to Luke and Matt in the cooking competition’s grand finale.

The Sydney team told news.com.au that they spent their own money to maximise their chances at winning the reality show and the $250,000 prize.

“Give or take we put in $30,000 combined,” said Romel.

Romel said most of the costs went to practising their dishes at their apartment with the help of a kitchen hand. 

“The majority of the other contestants had either left their jobs or they came in unemployed, whereas Ibby and I both run businesses,” said Romel.

“At first we didn’t have a kitchen hand at all, so what we found was chopping up, cleaning up, running to Coles a gazillion times a day, it was just consuming all our time.

“We had a meeting and asked ourselves, how can we work smarter rather than working overtime and not having any time for our businesses? So, we thought why don’t we just hire a kitchen hand to clean after us … It was basically to save time.

Romel said the massive expenses were due to their decision to fully emulate the challenges from the show.

“When we were practising it wasn’t as if we were just making one dish,” he said. “This is where the other money went. The majority of our ingredients, they’re f***ing expensive. We weren’t just making one dish. If we were serving 23 people, we were making 23 dishes.”

Romel also denied the accusations from other contestants that the hired staff helped them create any menu or recipe. 

“At no point had we broken any rules … And as far as creating dishes for us, that absolutely never happened. They didn’t create menus, they just cleaned and chopped up.”

Apart from the kitchen hand, the pair also spent a significant amount on a stylist, a graphic designer and flowers for their instant restaurant round.

Ibby and Romel lost the grand final episode by four points to the winning pair Matt and Luke, who received 92 points out of a possible 100 from the 10 judges.

The loss shocked many viewers, including fellow contestant Josh Bonwick. 

“I can say with a clean conscience after eating both team’s dishes tonight, I believe Ibby and Romel should have won as their food to me was superior in flavour,” he wrote on a Twitter post.

I can say with a clean conscience after eating both team's dishes tonight, I believe Ibby and Romel should have won as their food to me was superior in flavour#MKR

— Joshua Bonwick (@JoshuaBonwick) April 28, 2019

I'm happy for Matt and Luke, but Ibby and Romel certainly deserved to win. Their menu was far more technical, not to mention they performed consistently well throughout the whole competition. #Ibby #Romel #MKR

— Rose Davies (@DaviesRose46) April 29, 2019

I knew this would be the outcome the minute that team made into the finals. It's clear #MKR had an agenda with the edit of the other team all season. We were supposed to root for the winning team, but it's a no for me . Other team were clearly better cooks.

— Jerrica Tisdale (@jtwritergirl) April 28, 2019

Ibby and Romel were first criticised after Ibby revealed that he is a restaurant and café owner, which other participants saw as giving the team an unfair advantage.

What do you think of Ibby and Romel’s loss? Share your thoughts in the comments.