diff --git a/playbooks/base-test/pre.yaml b/playbooks/base-test/pre.yaml
index bf4d8fd..124c6b3 100644
--- a/playbooks/base-test/pre.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/base-test/pre.yaml
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@
       fail:
         msg: "The centos-8 node type is no longer supported.  You need to switch this job to use a centos-8-stream node type."
       when:
-        - "{{ item }} == 'centos-8'"
-        - "hostvars[item]['nodepool']['label'] == 'centos-8-stream'"
+        - item == 'centos-8'
+        - hostvars[item]['nodepool']['label'] == 'centos-8-stream'
       loop: "{{ query('inventory_hostnames', 'all,!localhost') }}"
 
 - hosts: all