diff --git a/cheat/utils.py b/cheat/utils.py
index 5c36990..23d75a6 100644
--- a/cheat/utils.py
+++ b/cheat/utils.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ def highlight(needle, haystack):
 
     # if colorization is not configured, exit early
     if os.environ.get('CHEATCOLORS') != 'true':
-        return sheet_content
+        return haystack
 
     # otherwise, attempt to import the termcolor library
     try: