diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_exceptions.py b/litellm/tests/test_exceptions.py
index 1800cbc5ee..d4a73c8670 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_exceptions.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_exceptions.py
@@ -455,15 +455,21 @@ def test_completion_perplexity_exception_on_openai_client():
 
         # delete perplexityai api key to simulate bad api key
         del os.environ["PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY"]
+
+        # temporaily delete openai api key
+        original_openai_key = os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]
         del os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]
+
         response = completion(
             model="perplexity/mistral-7b-instruct",
             messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "hello"}],
         )
         os.environ["PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY"] = old_azure_key
+        os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = original_openai_key
         pytest.fail("Request should have failed - bad api key")
     except openai.AuthenticationError as e:
         os.environ["PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY"] = old_azure_key
+        os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = original_openai_key
         print("exception: ", e)
         assert (
             "perplexity.perplexityError: The api_key client option must be set either by passing api_key to the client or by setting the PERPLEXITY_API_KEY environment variable"