diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e7cdf11..0aaf1e6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ft-poller",
-  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "version": "1.0.1",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/Financial-Times/ft-poller"
diff --git a/src/poller.js b/src/poller.js
index 964097d..57d2695 100644
--- a/src/poller.js
+++ b/src/poller.js
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ Poller.prototype.fetch = function () {
         var latency = new Date() - time;
         if (response.statusCode === 200) {
             self.emit('ok', response, latency);
-            return JSON.parse(response.body);
+            return self.options.json ? response.body : JSON.parse(response.body);
         } else {
             throw response.body;
         }