Jason Oppenheim Says He’s Single and Doesn’t Want to ‘Rush into Any Type of Serious Relationship’ (Exclusive)

After getting serious with his Selling Sunset costar Chrishell Stause and then Paris-based model Marie-Lou Nurk, Jason Oppenheim is taking some time for himself.

“I was casually dating someone in Vancouver for a little while, but that doesn't make a ton of sense being that we live in different countries and I tried that previously with Lou,” the Oppenheim Group founder and president tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “So, I'm just single right now and not wanting to rush into any type of serious relationship honestly.”

He adds, “I have had two very serious relationships in the last few years, and I think I just want some time to myself.”

Oppenheim and his co-star Stause went public with their romance in July 2021, but called it quits in December of that year. He met Nurk while vacationing on the Greek island of Mykonos the following summer, and they were together for 10 months before ending their relationship in May 2023, citing the difficulties of being long distance. The German model had been splitting her time between Paris and L.A., where Oppenheim lives.

Stause and Nurk face off in season 7 of Selling Sunset, which dropped on Netflix Friday, and Oppenheim says their ​​tense exchange was "difficult" for him to watch.

In one scene from the new season (seen in the trailer, below), Nurk, who was dating Oppenheim during filming, suggests to Stause that there are "feelings left" between the two. Stause replies, "I’m losing brain cells on this conversation."

"Living through that was very difficult because I obviously care about them both a lot," Oppenheim told PEOPLE of the conflict. "And so it was just a complicated and very difficult situation for me. And honestly, watching it back, when I watched this season, was also difficult. I really felt anxious. I got a lot of anxiety watching it, which is odd."

"I would think that I am usually pretty good at watching this stuff calmly, but that gave me a lot of anxiety," he adds. "Watching the trailer, I mean, I knew about this scene because I was on the phone during the scene, so I don't think it made it any better or worse. It just reminded me that I need to live through this again when the show [airs]. Because you live through it once in real life, then you live through it again when you watch it for the first time and then you live through it when the audience watches it."

Oppenheim, 46, also reflected on how the experience might impact his future relationships.

"I think Chrishell has already told me that she's not going to lunch with any of my future girlfriends," he says, adding Stause is important to him and their ongoing relationship as friends and colleagues is something that will "need to be traversed with my new relationships."

"It definitely caused some concerns and some hurdles in my relationship with Lou," he adds. 

He learned an important lesson from the split, however.

"I think I'll do a better job on the next relationship," Oppenheim says. "I think I'll be a little bit more sensitive to the difficulties that come with that and try to be a little bit more understanding. I think I could have handled it better with Lou, but the next time, I think I'll be obviously careful and just try to listen a little bit more."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Season 7 of Selling Sunset is streaming on Netflix.