The Big Brother winner felt like he was coming into The Challenge Australia with a distinct advantage over some of his fellow competitors. Having just come off a similar game of intense physical challenges and an even more intense social aspect, Marley knew how to maneuver his way through a game to the end.
As the Bachelor contestants formed a majority alliance, Marley found an almost instant connection with Ninja Warrior competitor Troy Cullen. As the Bachelor alliance took aim at the Bedroom alliance, Troy and Marley quietly sat on the sidelines, out of the firing line.
"That's exactly where I wanted to be," Marley told 10 Play. "I played a game before so I know what works, I know what doesn't. Troy and I got along from the jump, that's why I teamed with Troy and Brooke [Jowett]... these two I knew would be able to play a game, especially socially."
Marley said he and Troy would stay up most nights, giving each other advice and leaning on each other throughout, working on their game plan and how they could position themselves within both alliances to avoid being targeted down the track.
"I knew that [the Bachelor alliance] was going to run through this game if we didn't take care of their numbers early and, unfortunately, we weren't able to get rid of these guys as early as we wanted to," Marley continued.
"I think Troy and I especially did so well at that, creating good relationships with Konrad and Ciarran - genuine relationships at that, but we knew that was something we needed to do in order to stay out of the firing line."
Marley said there were moments in the game where neither alliance really knew where he and Troy stood, "And that's exactly where we wanted to be. I wanted to create rapport with everyone in that house," he added.
"I was playing The Bachelor side, acting as if I wanted to take down Ryan, Grant, Emily and Sugar. At the same time, for a lot of the game, I was also on their end, acting like I wanted to take out The Bachelor crew.
"I wanted those guys to go to war while Troy and I flit through the middle and I think, for the most part, we did well."
The only thing that stood in the way of Marley's strategy was the algorithm, the random way pairs were created throughout the competition. "Sometimes you get paired with people that aren't the best for your game, and that's kind of the equaliser - the algorithm threw a spanner in the works for everyone's game," he added.
With "99.8 percent of the house" wanting Emily out of the competition, Marley knew there was almost no chance that he wouldn't be put into the elimination arena. Ahead of the elimination, Ciarran Stott approached Marley to let him know that he was going to be 'collateral damage' for the Bachelor alliance's move against Emily.
"That's the piece of this game that, as such a competitor and someone who really, really wanted to win this thing and worked so hard to prepare for, it hurts but that's the game. That's life.
"It hurt that I was paired with her and pushed into that position as collateral damage, especially because I wasn't even a question in anyone's mind at that point in the game that they wanted me to be in the elimination," he continued, "it hurt to go home off that, that's for sure."
Despite not making it to the finale, Marley said he'd absolutely go back to The Challenge in a heartbeat.
"I think I was playing a really good game. I unfortunately didn't win any challenges but I also didn't lose any either. I felt like up until the end there I played a pretty perfect game. There's not much I would change."
The Challenge final episodes airs Tuesday, December 13 at 8.30 on 10 Shake and 10 Play on demand
