diff --git a/lib/VersionCheck.pm b/lib/VersionCheck.pm
index 5f388f36..28ba61c5 100644
--- a/lib/VersionCheck.pm
+++ b/lib/VersionCheck.pm
@@ -175,9 +175,11 @@ sub get_perl_variable {
    # append ::VERSION to get the module's version.   
    my $var     = $item->{vars}->[0] || ($item->{item} . '::VERSION');
    my $version = do { no strict; ${*{$var}}; }; 
-   PTDEBUG && _d('Perl version for', $var, '=', $version);
+   PTDEBUG && _d('Perl version for', $var, '=', "$version");
 
-   return $version;
+   # Explicitly stringify this else $PERL_VERSION will return
+   # as a version object.
+   return $version ? "$version" : $version;
 }
 
 sub get_mysql_variable {
diff --git a/t/lib/VersionCheck.t b/t/lib/VersionCheck.t
index 2071b573..74f44722 100644
--- a/t/lib/VersionCheck.t
+++ b/t/lib/VersionCheck.t
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ sub test_v {
       items => $items,
       dbh   => $dbh,
    );
+   diag(Dumper($versions));
    is_deeply(
       $versions,
       $args{versions},