After a tough season, Marley has taken out Big Brother Australia 2021

The Big Brother Australia winner has finally been crowned, with basketballer Marley taking out a huge $250,000 cash prize.

After 63 days in the house, multiple tantrums over food, and a number of smokin’ Sonia Kruger looks, Christina, Marley and SJ finally arrived at the podium for tonight’s live Channel 7 finale.

Fan favourite Marley, 26, was announced the winner by the end of the live special, vowing to shout his former housemates a drink, before making a heartwarming gesture to his dad.

“First of all I’m going to buy all of these guys a beautiful drink. And second, just going to take care of dad. Whatever he needs, whatever he wants. We’re going to take care of dad and set him up for the rest of his life,” he said.

RELATED: Housemate’s astonishing backflip shocks

Here’s how the live finale went down:

The live finale recap

With multiple states plunged into lockdown, half the former cast dialled in via patchy zoom connections, with the live audience replaced by canned applause.

But Sonia’s fluoro two-piece gave us enough life to make up for it.

RELATED: ‘Brutal’: Contestant’s icy exit shocks

Before the top three hit the socially-distanced stage, Sonia brought out the past contestants, including a number of whom I’d never seen before in my life.

Some awkward small talk ensued before the top three were introduced dressed like they were starring in the 2021 instalment of The Hunger Games.

Sonia sat down first with SJ, the quirky house vegan who recently turned 66, and the conversation quickly turned to tofu — the biggest sore spot in the Big Brother house this year.

“Everything you did, you did with a lot of passion,” Sonia began, “You’re very passionate about tofu.”

Appearing instantly affronted (or perhaps it was PTSD) SJ responded with a deadpan expression: “No, I actually don’t eat very much tofu.”

After short chats with Marley and top 6 evictee Tilly, Sonia moved on to Danny, who threw out a lot of cringe-worthy analogies about his time in the house and couldn’t answer Sonia’s question about ‘how he’d sell the Big Brother mansion’ given his real estate background.

“Are you going back to real estate? You might want to rethink that?” Sonia quipped back. Savage.

Christina was up next, who tried to avoid questions about her short-lived showmance with intruder Brenton by talking about lamb chops. ‘Atta girl.

We learnt the two caught up briefly outside the show, but given how uncomfortable they looked in each other’s presence, it doesn’t look promising.

What happened on Monday night’s episode?

The final four faced one last, brutal hurdle on Monday night, with the winner of the nomination challenge gaining the power to choose the final evictee from Big Brother’s game – and ultimately who would go through to the final with them.

Marley claimed the victory, narrowly beating Ari who looked set to win. Thrilled with the win but faced with the tough decision to evict one last contestant, Marley became emotional.

“The only reason I got to the end of this game is because of my mum. I asked her for help and she gave it to me and allowed me to be in this position,” he said.

Marley followed his heart, saving SJ and Christina and evicting Ari, who stormed out without saying goodbye in a frosty (but great) display.

Big Brother auditions

If you’re brave enough to endure fiery arguments over peanut butter for weeks on end, auditions are already open for the next season of Big Brother Australia.

Filming will take place in the Big Brother house around the period from October to December 2021 with applications closing Monday, August 2, 2021.

You can read through the terms and conditions and apply here.