He may be one of the sexiest starts to come from the 90 Day Fiancé franchise, but Jesse Meester is also one of the realest. When we sat down with him to chat exclusively about dating, reality shows, those Bachelorette rumors, and his past with Darcey Silva, he didn’t hold anything back. And when we talked about his own time on the TLC hit series, he was more than willing to explain what went down. According to him, it was all about love. “The most important thing in life is love,” he shared. “The reason why I signed up… I wanted to show the world that it’s possible to date someone older, from a different country, from a different background, different culture, and share a beautiful love story.” Watch the video above to see what else he has to say.

Though he admits things didn’t exactly work out the way that he intended — after all, we all watched them fall apart, including that iconic shoe fight that spiraled out of control — the Before the 90 Days star says he only had the best intentions going in. It’s just unfortunate that he ended up getting the “total opposite” of what he expected. That’s not all that he had to say about his relationship with Darcey, though. He also opened up about his biggest regret in his relationship.

Believe it or not, the one thing he wishes he had a second chance at is calling it quits. Not because he wants to get back together with his ex, but because he wishes he had ended things sooner. “I think my biggest mistake is that I kept believing in something that was already lost,” he confessed. And if you watched the show, you already know what he means. Now, however, he’s keeping that insight in mind when he watches the show with the rest of us — and he, too, has some pretty strong opinions about which 90DF stars should stay together and who is just about ready to fall apart. Check out the video above to see it all.