Mason Admits He Ignored the Red Flags with Madison: 'It Was a Complete Catastrophe'

Mason Horacek knows things with Madison Errichiello wouldn't have worked out on Love Is Blind — even if he hadn't made some missteps in the pods.

The season 8 stars formed a connection early on in the pods, but Madison, 28, later ended things due to her stronger connection with Alex Brown. However, following Mason and Madison's split, she learned that he had been saying the exact same things to her and fellow participant Meg Fink.

After Madison started venting to Alex, 29, in the pods about Mason's behavior, Alex refused to speak poorly about his costar, which upset Madison — and in turn, ended their relationship for good. Meanwhile, Mason pursued Meg after their time in the pods and it was revealed in episode 11 that the two started dating after the show.

Speaking to PEOPLE, Mason, 33, says he's confident Madison was never the one for him and he wished he would've come to that realization sooner than he did.

"There's a lot that I look back on watching it now where I really wish I would've addressed the red flags that I saw when I was dating Madison," he says. "I chose to ignore them and just kind of got wrapped up in my feelings and went with what I felt at the time."

"If I hadn't ignored those red flags, I feel like I would've ended up in a better situation instead of the catastrophe that we all witnessed," he admits.

Noting that in past relationships, he tended to ignore red flags which resulted in "more drama" or "difficult situations," Mason adds: "I came to the show to avoid something like that, but I just went right back into my old ways, which is very disappointing and heartbreaking for me to watch that back."

"It's just sucks when it's one of the biggest world stages that you have to fumble the ball and learn in that aspect. But now I'll never forget the lesson," he admits.

Though watching his own actions was tough, Mason says he felt "completely backed up" seeing Alex support him and refuse to speak poorly about him inside the pods.

"I felt like he had my back and he told me after we got done filming that that had happened," he reveals. "But watching it back, I didn't know the extent or the severity or the tension that was actually in the room and being able to watch it back was like, wow. He really did something brave and uncomfortable just to defend me. So I just have mad respect for him and it made me really, really value him."

Following their split, Mason says he and Madison never spoke again. "After Madison broke up with me, that was essentially the last time I spoke to her for a long time because I knew who she was at that point," he says. "It felt like a breakup where she was trying to hurt me and I just did not need to associate with someone like that. So kept my distance after that."

However, as fans saw, the two had an awkward exchange at the cast gathering in episode 11.

Not only did Mason show up and reveal he was now dating Meg, but Madison and Alex also arrived separately. When Madison explained everything that went down between them to Lauren O'Brien, she insisted that Alex was "a huge liar" because he wouldn't admit he trashed Mason.

Despite the drama, Mason insists he and Alex are all good.

"We are all really, really good friends in the pods ... we have a group of friends that we automatically have a great friend group that we can always go out with and hang out and shoot a text in the group chat and always have someone down to do something," he says. "So I think we got a really nice little community after filming with this experience."

Episodes 1-12 of Love Is Blind season 8 are now streaming on Netflix. The finale drops Friday, March 7, followed by the season 8 reunion on Sunday, March 9 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.