diff --git a/lib/TrivialReporter.js b/lib/TrivialReporter.js
index e0e1589f7..8219d4a59 100644
--- a/lib/TrivialReporter.js
+++ b/lib/TrivialReporter.js
@@ -89,9 +89,7 @@ jasmine.TrivialReporter.prototype.reportSpecResults = function(spec) {
   for (var i = 0; i < resultItems.length; i++) {
     var result = resultItems[i];
     if (result.passed && !result.passed()) {
-      var resultMessageDiv = this.createDom('div', {className: 'resultMessage fail'});
-      resultMessageDiv.innerHTML = result.message; // todo: lame; mend
-      specDiv.appendChild(resultMessageDiv);
+      specDiv.appendChild(this.createDom('div', {className: 'resultMessage fail'}, result.message));
       specDiv.appendChild(this.createDom('div', {className: 'stackTrace'}, result.trace.stack));
     }
   }
diff --git a/spec/suites/TrivialReporterSpec.js b/spec/suites/TrivialReporterSpec.js
index 1660c51b4..2fcc2caad 100644
--- a/spec/suites/TrivialReporterSpec.js
+++ b/spec/suites/TrivialReporterSpec.js
@@ -122,6 +122,19 @@ describe("TrivialReporter", function() {
       var divs = body.getElementsByTagName("div");
       expect(divs[3].innerHTML).toEqual("Expected 'a' to be null, but it was not");
     });
+
+    it("should add the failure message to the DOM (non-toEquals matchers)", function() {
+      expectationResult = new jasmine.ExpectationResult({
+        matcherName: "toBeNull", passed: false, message: "Expected '1 < 2' to <b>e null, & it was not"
+      });
+
+      spyOn(results, 'getItems').andReturn([expectationResult]);
+
+      trivialReporter.reportSpecResults(spec);
+
+      var divs = body.getElementsByTagName("div");
+      expect(divs[3].innerHTML).toEqual("Expected '1 &lt; 2' to &lt;b&gt;e null, &amp; it was not");
+    });
   });
 
 });