diff --git a/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-cluster.js b/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-cluster.js
index 97f5b76b38..c50ea0b03c 100644
--- a/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-cluster.js
+++ b/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-cluster.js
@@ -119,11 +119,21 @@ function MovingShardsSuite () {
     } catch (err) {
       console.error(
         "Exception for POST /_admin/cluster/cleanOutServer:", err.stack);
-      return {};
+      return {cleanedServers:[]};
+    }
+    if (res.statusCode !== 200) {
+      return {cleanedServers:[]};
     }
     var body = res.body;
     if (typeof body === "string") {
-      body = JSON.parse(body);
+      try {
+        body = JSON.parse(body);
+      } catch (err2) {
+      }
+    }
+    if (typeof body !== "object" || !body.hasOwnProperty("cleanedServers") ||
+        typeof body.cleanedServers !== "object") {
+      return {cleanedServers:[]};
     }
     return body;
   }
diff --git a/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-with-arangosearch-view-cluster-grey.js b/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-with-arangosearch-view-cluster-grey.js
index 4e278b4a65..55eb42be9a 100644
--- a/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-with-arangosearch-view-cluster-grey.js
+++ b/tests/js/server/resilience/moving-shards-with-arangosearch-view-cluster-grey.js
@@ -174,11 +174,21 @@ function MovingShardsWithViewSuite (options) {
     } catch (err) {
       console.error(
         "Exception for POST /_admin/cluster/cleanOutServer:", err.stack);
-      return {};
+      return {cleanedServers:[]};
+    }
+    if (res.statusCode !== 200) {
+      return {cleanedServers:[]};
     }
     var body = res.body;
     if (typeof body === "string") {
-      body = JSON.parse(body);
+      try {
+        body = JSON.parse(body);
+      } catch (err2) {
+      }
+    }
+    if (typeof body !== "object" || !body.hasOwnProperty("cleanedServers") ||
+        typeof body.cleanedServers !== "object") {
+      return {cleanedServers:[]};
     }
     return body;
   }
diff --git a/tests/js/server/resilience/shard-distribution-spec.js b/tests/js/server/resilience/shard-distribution-spec.js
index 2bf0e20ecd..fbfcf39db1 100644
--- a/tests/js/server/resilience/shard-distribution-spec.js
+++ b/tests/js/server/resilience/shard-distribution-spec.js
@@ -250,15 +250,23 @@ describe('Shard distribution', function () {
           const envelope = 
               { method: "GET", url: url + "/_admin/cluster/numberOfServers" };
           let res = request(envelope);
+          if (res.statusCode !== 200) {
+            return {cleanedServers: []};
+          }
           var body = res.body;
           if (typeof body === "string") {
             body = JSON.parse(body);
           }
+          if (typeof body !== "object" ||
+              !body.hasOwnProperty("cleanedServers") ||
+              typeof body.cleanedServers !== "object") {
+            return {cleanedServers:[]};
+          }
           return body;
         } catch (err) {
           console.error(
             "Exception for POST /_admin/cluster/cleanOutServer:", err.stack);
-          return {};
+          return {cleanedServers: []};
         }
       };