diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js
index 7ba6aaf78af..5d9f5ea14bb 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js
@@ -63,7 +63,13 @@ Discourse.Category = Discourse.Model.extend({
   removeGroup: function(group){
     this.get("groups").removeObject(group);
     this.get("availableGroups").addObject(group);
-  }
+  },
+
+  // note, this is used in a data attribute, data attributes get downcased
+  //  to avoid confusion later on using this naming here.
+  description_text: function(){
+    return $("<div>" + this.get("description") + "</div>").text();
+  }.property("description")
 
 });
 
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/category_chooser_view.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/category_chooser_view.js
index ce3abd2e976..0808fb89726 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/category_chooser_view.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/category_chooser_view.js
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 Discourse.CategoryChooserView = Discourse.ComboboxView.extend({
   classNames: ['combobox category-combobox'],
   overrideWidths: true,
-  dataAttributes: ['name', 'color', 'text_color', 'description', 'topic_count'],
+  dataAttributes: ['name', 'color', 'text_color', 'description_text', 'topic_count'],
   valueBinding: Ember.Binding.oneWay('source'),
 
   init: function() {
@@ -23,15 +23,24 @@ Discourse.CategoryChooserView = Discourse.ComboboxView.extend({
 
   template: function(text, templateData) {
     if (!templateData.color) return text;
+
     var result = "<span class='badge-category' style='background-color: #" + templateData.color + '; color: #' +
         templateData.text_color + ";'>" + templateData.name + "</span>";
+
     result += " <span class='topic-count'>&times; " + templateData.topic_count + "</span>";
-    if (templateData.description && templateData.description !== 'null') {
-      result += '<div class="category-desc">' + templateData.description.substr(0,200) + (templateData.description.length > 200 ? '&hellip;' : '') + '</div>';
+
+    var description = templateData.description_text;
+    // TODO wtf how can this be null?
+    if (description && description !== 'null') {
+
+      result += '<div class="category-desc">' +
+                 description.substr(0,200) +
+                 (description.length > 200 ? '&hellip;' : '') +
+                 '</div>';
     }
     return result;
   }
 
 });
 
-Discourse.View.registerHelper('categoryChooser', Discourse.CategoryChooserView);
\ No newline at end of file
+Discourse.View.registerHelper('categoryChooser', Discourse.CategoryChooserView);