’90 Day Fiance’: Chantel Everett Didn’t Understand ‘Severity’ of Husband Pedro Jimeno’s Wild Night

90 Day Fiancé star Chantel Everett was shocked to see on the Happily Ever After? tell-all earlier this month that what she thought was husband Pedros Jimeno’s simple drunken night out dancing with a woman in the Dominican Republic had a lot more shocking details to it than he let on.

Ahead of the couple’s new spinoff, The Family Chantel, the couple dished to PEOPLE about the tough time in their relationship, as well as Chantel’s shock upon seeing the actual footage, in which he takes off his wedding ring and sexy dances with a family friend, air.

“I didn’t know. I found out a lot at the tell all about what happened when I was not in the Dominican Republic,” Everett told the outlet. “I didn’t have a proper reaction in the Dominican Republic [because I didn’t know] about the severity of it. At first, I thought it was just a two-second dance, but this is a girl who wants a relationship with him that he’s seen on multiple occasions.”

“I messed up. I enjoy in the moment I had with my friends. I passed the line,” Jimeno said of his night out, explaining it was a mistake after months of feeling lonely in the U.S. “I been so long in United States, I no have friends over here, you know what I mean? That’s why I extremely passed the line.”

The two certainly haven’t had a simple dynamic, with both of their families making no secret of their disdain for their child’s spouse. But despite the dramatic, sometimes violent scenes fans see on their screens, the couple insist nothing is being played up for the camera.

“I don’t feel like any of it is exaggerated,” Everett said. “I’ve definitely grown a lot since 90 Day Fiancé to The Family Chantel in the sense where I have my opinion and I’m gonna be strong about what I believe. You may not always like it, but it’s better that I say it and be true to my own self than suppress and bottle it up. I feel like I’m more open now.”

“In the beginning, that was a happy life,” joked Jimeno of their early days in the relationship courting in the Dominican Republic. “I had the best wife in the world! Then I met your family.”

“I wish I had done my marriage a different way, like I had told my parents some things. I feel like I messed up on one big decision of my life — not to be with [Pedro], but the way that I told my parents,” Everett admitted. “I would still choose to marry him, but I would definitely have more realistic expectations.”

The Family Chantel airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.

Photo credit: TLC