diff --git a/lib/frenzy/pipeline/scrape_stage.ex b/lib/frenzy/pipeline/scrape_stage.ex
index b72cb97..703c0c6 100644
--- a/lib/frenzy/pipeline/scrape_stage.ex
+++ b/lib/frenzy/pipeline/scrape_stage.ex
@@ -89,13 +89,25 @@ defmodule Frenzy.Pipeline.ScrapeStage do
   defp handle_response(url, %Tesla.Env{body: body}, opts) do
     case opts["extractor"] do
       "builtin" ->
-        {:ok, BuiltinExtractor.article(url, body)}
+        {:ok, BuiltinExtractor.article(url, body), true}
 
       module_name ->
         html_tree = Floki.parse(body)
 
         try do
           apply(String.to_existing_atom("Elixir." <> module_name), :extract, [html_tree])
+          |> case do
+            {:ok, content} ->
+              # non-builtin extractors go through readable_html to cleanup any bad/untrusted html
+              # this is what Floki.readable_html without turning back into a string
+              content =
+                Readability.Helper.remove_attrs(content, Readability.regexes(:protect_attrs))
+
+              {:ok, content}
+
+            err ->
+              err
+          end
         rescue
           e ->
             Logger.error(
@@ -111,15 +123,11 @@ defmodule Frenzy.Pipeline.ScrapeStage do
               )
             end
 
-            {:ok, BuiltinExtractor.article(url, body)}
+            {:ok, BuiltinExtractor.article(url, body), true}
         end
     end
     |> case do
       {:ok, html} ->
-        # todo: probably don't need to go through readable_html if it used the builtin extractor
-        # this is what Floki.readable_html without turning back into a string
-        html = Readability.Helper.remove_attrs(html, Readability.regexes(:protect_attrs))
-
         convert_to_data_uris =
           case opts["convert_to_data_uris"] do
             nil -> true