diff --git a/evennia/objects/objects.py b/evennia/objects/objects.py
index e4b0b80639..8cc4c4e3d0 100644
--- a/evennia/objects/objects.py
+++ b/evennia/objects/objects.py
@@ -427,6 +427,7 @@ class DefaultObject(with_metaclass(TypeclassBase, ObjectDB)):
             # only allow exact matching if searching the entire database
             # or unique #dbrefs
             exact = True
+            candidates = None
         elif candidates is None:
             # no custom candidates given - get them automatically
             if location: