After Public Heartbreak, Kayla Nicole Is Open to Finding Love Again — Though Admits Current Dating Pool Is ‘Rough’ (Exclusive)

Kayla Nicole’s heart is open.

After 10 straight days of a physically and emotionally taxing journey on Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test season 3, the social media influencer is leaving the show with both a win and a new perspective on love.

In the season finale of the reality quasi-military training competition series on Wednesday, Feb. 5, Nicole is one of the two celebrity recruits in a pool of 16 contestants who successfully pass selection — and spoke with PEOPLE exclusively about the wild ride.

“Emotionally, it is a really draining, yet cathartic experience,” Nicole reflects on the grueling experience that put her through harsh military training in Wales while confronting inner mental challenges of her own. “I’m feeling so great… I’m really, really proud of myself for sure.”

On the show, Nicole opened up about the negativity she’s received online since her ex-boyfriend Travis Kelce started dating Taylor Swift. She got candid about the “overwhelming” public attention after her split and “being reduced to a headline to something so small as someone’s ex-girlfriend.”

When speaking with PEOPLE, Nicole says she’s proud of her win on Special Forces because she completed it successfully “with [her] own grit and grind,” something that “nobody can take” from her.

“My success has been attributed to people that I was in close proximity to,” she says. “And that’s not anything new for me. That’s something that happens to women all the time, especially just in the entertainment industry and public fields.”

Coming out on top of Special Forces proves her independence, both on and off the show. “I did this entirely on my own,” the sports broadcaster says. “I’m tough, and I know that for a fact now.”

In fact, Nicole says she’s “a very different person” today than who she was when the show was filmed about one year ago. Now that her heart has healed, she tells PEOPLE exclusively that she’s opening herself up to love again since she called it quits with Kelce in May 2022.

“Love is one of the best parts of life,” Nicole says of whether she’s healed enough to open herself back up to a new romance. “I would never close myself off to ever experiencing love again.”

She adds, “I think too, with love comes heartbreak and with heartbreak comes love. It’s one and the same, and I would take the risk of heartbreak over and over if that meant that I get to experience love again.”

The on-air reporter and record-breaking tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs — who is heading back to the Super Bowl in pursuit of securing the first-ever “three-peat” in NFL history on Feb. 9 — started dating in 2017 and were in an on-again, off-again relationship for five years.

Nicole also tells PEOPLE that she’s been actively dating since the Fox hit-reality series wrapped filming. However, she says it hasn’t been the easiest.

“Yeah, I mean, dating-wise out on these streets is rough. Okay?” she says. “The men these days, I just said the other day, it’s not God’s best work out here…. but I’m dating. I’m dating. Successfully? Ah, the jury’s still out, but I’m dating.”

As for whether she’d pursue another NFL player or high-profiled partner again, Nicole reveals that no one type of person is off-limits.

“As Rihanna said, ‘I’m not looking for anything, looking for me.’ I just attract whatever is meant for me and intended for me,” she makes clear. “I just want to be with someone that is a good character, that’s forthright, that’s loving, kind, funny — and maybe is taller than me, that’d be cool.”

Nicole concludes, “But I am no stickler… I’m open to anyone that’s just a good person.”