The Ultimatum: Queer Love’s AJ Defends Her Flirty Behavior Before Making Trial Marriage Selection (Exclusive)

Warning: this story contains spoilers from The Ultimatum: Queer Love season 2.

The Ultimatum: Queer Love is finally back for season 2 — and they wasted no time in getting back to all the drama.

Early on in season 2, which premiered on June 25, AJ Blount made waves for what others on the show perceived as her overly flirty behavior.

From AJ’s perspective, she was just trying to get to know everyone before deciding who to settle down with for the trial marriage period. But her fellow costars thought her actions were disingenuous because she was having “similar conversations” with everyone and leading with the physicality of her connections, ultimately causing feelings of strong chemistry and attraction.

By the time that the changeover dinner arrived, fans were on the edge of their seat as to who AJ, 28, would choose: Marie Robertson, Marita Prodger or Bridget Matloff.

Now AJ is setting the record straight, saying she can see why people got the wrong idea about her — but insists her actions were not intentionally flirty.

“I think it’s important to know that, one: I am a people person,” she tells PEOPLE. “I do thrive in more people environments. The more, the merrier.”

“However, I wouldn’t necessarily change much [about my journey on the show], except for my timing on how I should have made more decisive decisions,” AJ continues. “I’m a Libra by nature, so decisive decisions are not our strongest suit. I wish I just had a better eye for that and a better urgency, like a sense of urgency throughout the process.”

AJ acknowledges that her missteps with being decisive ultimately proved to be a problem and caused more drama than anticipated.

In episode 2, fans watched as AJ made her decision, ultimately choosing Marie to be her trial marriage partner, despite also having a connection with Marita. In fact, the connection with Marita was so strong that Marita selected AJ to be her trial marriage partner and was clearly disappointed when the choice wasn’t reciprocated. (Marita later ended up with AJ’s original partner, Britney Thompson.)

During the changeover dinner, AJ was called out for her misleading actions, with Bridget even saying: “I can be very frank. Everyone who’s connected with you talked about this intensity and attraction and chemistry, and it felt like a lot of your ways of connecting were physical and I noticed that because I wasn’t quite ready for that.”

Speaking to PEOPLE about the backlash, AJ says, “I think that because of me not being able to make decisions, it definitely landed me in a lot of hot water. But I really hope that no matter what people can see that generally I did care. I do care.”

“I wanted this process to really help me answer the questions I had, whether that was shown all the way through or not. But I probably would change just the sense of urgency,” she adds.

AJ also confirms the dinners with the full cast was just as tense as they appeared on screen.

Fans were likely cringing in their seats watching the cast go back and forth with each other during both sit-down dinners, where they selected trial marriage partners and reconvened after three weeks to start their trial marriage with their original partners.

At times, things got extra heated as emotions were heightened due to jealousy and hurt feelings.

“I think if they really showed the entirety of these cocktail parties and these dinner events that we had, I think it would give people a run for their money for sure,” AJ says. “I think people would absolutely be glued to their television and living for every moment because they are absolutely intense.”

“I had to watch it myself and I had to pause it a few times and catch my breath and say, whoa, I need a minute,” she adds. “I’m like, ‘Look, I need a little bit. I need a walk. I need something. Because this is a lot to take in.’ So absolutely. It’s very intense and emotional in the moment. But yeah, it’s crazy.”

AJ also emphasizes her focus on “people being respectful” during those heated moments.

“I can’t be in every conversation. I can’t see everything, but the things that were being told, the things that I saw and I actually heard, you’re not there to make a decision and be like, I’m team so-and-so and I’m team so-and-so.’ That’s not the point of this,” she explains. “The point is that there’s two beautiful people that are in love with each other, that loved each other, or loved each other at one point in time, and they’re going at each other’s necks. How can we have a healthy, respectable conversation? And you could still get your point across. So I think that was my main focus in that moment.”

As fans know, AJ entered the show with Britney, who issued her the ultimatum. At this point in the show, AJ has reunited with Britney and the two are navigating their own three-week trial marriage after AJ’s time with Marie and Britney’s time with Marita.

AJ will then have to make a decision of whether to get engaged to Britney, pursue things with Marie, or walk away from both forever.

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Episodes 1-7 of The Ultimatum: Queer Love are now streaming on Netflix, and episodes 8-10 drop July 2.