diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 515cc8f5259527..140a89060a8e27 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@ notifications:
   email: false
   irc:
     channels:
-      - "irc.freenode.net#python-dev"
+      # This is set to a secure variable to prevent forks from notifying the
+      # IRC channel whenever they fail a build. This can be removed when travis
+      # implements https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/1094.
+      # The actual value here is: irc.freenode.net#python-dev
+      - secure: "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"
     on_success: change
     on_failure: always
     skip_join: true