diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.test.ts b/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.test.ts
index 9eb34355d..2f53ab755 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.test.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.test.ts
@@ -431,26 +431,26 @@ describe("tryFallbackRetry", () => {
   })
 
   describe("#given disconnected fallback providers with connected preferred provider", () => {
-    test("keeps fallback entry and selects connected preferred provider", async () => {
+    test("skips explicit-provider fallback entries when none of their providers are connected", async () => {
       readProviderModelsCacheMock.mockReturnValueOnce({
         connected: ["provider-a"],
         models: {},
         updatedAt: new Date("2026-05-16T00:00:00.000Z").toISOString(),
       })
-      selectFallbackProviderMock.mockImplementationOnce(
-        (_providers: string[], preferredProviderID?: string) => preferredProviderID ?? "provider-b",
-      )
 
       const args = createDefaultArgs({
         fallbackChain: [{ model: "fallback-model-1", providers: ["provider-b"], variant: undefined }],
         model: { providerID: "provider-a", modelID: "original-model" },
       })
 
+      const providerCallsBefore = selectFallbackProviderMock.mock.calls.length
+
       const result = await tryFallbackRetry(args)
 
-      expect(result).toBe(true)
+      expect(result).toBe(false)
       expect(args.task.model?.providerID).toBe("provider-a")
-      expect(args.task.model?.modelID).toBe("fallback-model-1")
+      expect(args.task.model?.modelID).toBe("original-model")
+      expect(selectFallbackProviderMock.mock.calls.length).toBe(providerCallsBefore)
     })
   })
 
diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.ts b/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.ts
index f01807c2e..7335659a3 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/fallback-retry-handler.ts
@@ -80,14 +80,10 @@ export async function tryFallbackRetry(args: {
   const providerModelsCache = deps.readProviderModelsCache()
   const connectedProviders = providerModelsCache?.connected ?? deps.readConnectedProvidersCache()
   const connectedSet = connectedProviders ? new Set(connectedProviders.map(p => p.toLowerCase())) : null
-  const preferredProvider = task.model?.providerID?.toLowerCase()
 
   const isReachable = (entry: FallbackEntry): boolean => {
     if (!connectedSet) return true
-    if (entry.providers.some((provider) => connectedSet.has(provider.toLowerCase()))) {
-      return true
-    }
-    return preferredProvider ? connectedSet.has(preferredProvider) : false
+    return entry.providers.some((provider) => connectedSet.has(provider.toLowerCase()))
   }
 
   let selectedAttemptCount = attemptCount