diff --git a/jenkins/helper/test_config.py b/jenkins/helper/test_config.py
index 5ecd684a..580bf9cb 100644
--- a/jenkins/helper/test_config.py
+++ b/jenkins/helper/test_config.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 """ keep the config for one testsuite to execute """
 import copy
 import os
-import json
 
 from site_config import IS_WINDOWS, IS_MAC, TEMP
 TEST_LOG_FILES = []
@@ -63,14 +62,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         self.report_file =  self.base_logdir / 'UNITTEST_RESULT.json'
         self.base_testdir = cfg.test_data_dir_x / self.name
 
-        self.arangosh_args = [];
-        # the yaml work around is to have an A prepended. detect and strip out:
-        if arangosh_args is not None and len(arangosh_args) > 0 and arangosh_args != 'A ""':
-            print(arangosh_args)
-            if isinstance(arangosh_args, list):
-                self.arangosh_args = arangosh_args
-            else:
-                self.arangosh_args = json.loads(arangosh_args[1:])
+        self.arangosh_args = arangosh_args
         self.args = copy.deepcopy(cfg.extra_args)
         for param in args:
             if param.startswith('$'):