diff --git a/scripts/piuparts_wrapper b/scripts/piuparts_wrapper
index 0a53681..182b181 100755
--- a/scripts/piuparts_wrapper
+++ b/scripts/piuparts_wrapper
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ create_base_tgz() {
     components='main,contrib,non-free'
     echo "*** COMPONENTS is unset and looks like Debian - therefore using components $components ***"
   fi
+  unset "COMPONENTS" # ensure it's unset so debootstrap doesn't fail, see GH issue 145
 
   tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)