diff --git a/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-elevenlabs/livekit/plugins/elevenlabs/tts.py b/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-elevenlabs/livekit/plugins/elevenlabs/tts.py
index 1f17c6093..dc7ade4f8 100644
--- a/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-elevenlabs/livekit/plugins/elevenlabs/tts.py
+++ b/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-elevenlabs/livekit/plugins/elevenlabs/tts.py
@@ -196,12 +196,14 @@ async def _run(self, max_retry: int) -> None:
                 started = False
                 while not ws.closed:
                     text = None
-                    if retry_text_queue.empty():
+                    if not retry_text_queue.empty():
                         text = await retry_text_queue.get()
                         retry_text_queue.task_done()
                     else:
                         text = await self._queue.get()
 
+                    print("NEIL got here", text)
+
                     if not started:
                         self._event_queue.put_nowait(
                             tts.SynthesisEvent(type=tts.SynthesisEventType.STARTED)