diff --git a/test/framework/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/test/InternalTestClusterTests.java b/test/framework/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/test/InternalTestClusterTests.java
index 4fa1ae6970d..05c99ef83d4 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/test/InternalTestClusterTests.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/test/InternalTestClusterTests.java
@@ -300,7 +300,8 @@ public class InternalTestClusterTests extends ESTestCase {
             for (String name: cluster.getNodeNames()) {
                 shardNodePaths.put(name, getNodePaths(cluster, name));
             }
-            String poorNode = randomFrom(cluster.getNodeNames());
+            String poorNode = randomValueOtherThanMany(n -> originalMasterCount == 1 && n.equals(cluster.getMasterName()),
+                () -> randomFrom(cluster.getNodeNames()));
             Path dataPath = getNodePaths(cluster, poorNode)[0];
             final Path testMarker = dataPath.resolve("testMarker");
             Files.createDirectories(testMarker);