diff --git a/pkg/operator/ceph/cluster/mon/health.go b/pkg/operator/ceph/cluster/mon/health.go
index 88770f330887..af2b2819412b 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/ceph/cluster/mon/health.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/ceph/cluster/mon/health.go
@@ -450,6 +450,7 @@ func (c *Cluster) determineExtraMonToRemove() string {
 	for _, mon := range mons {
 		if mon.NodeName == "" {
 			logger.Debugf("mon %q is not scheduled to a specific host", mon.DaemonName)
+			arbitraryMon = mon.DaemonName
 			continue
 		}
 		// Check if there are multiple mons on the node