diff --git a/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item.go b/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item.go
index 142233f657ea..288cc57e633b 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item.go
@@ -64,9 +64,7 @@ func (i *Item) String() string {
 	}
 	// this convenience to remove quotes from strings will cause many problems
 	if jsonBytes[0] == '"' {
-		var str string
-		_ = json.Unmarshal(jsonBytes, &str)
-		return str
+		return string(jsonBytes[1 : len(jsonBytes)-1])
 	}
 	return string(jsonBytes)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item_test.go b/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item_test.go
index c6459ffa9081..6d06a613137f 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item_test.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1/item_test.go
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ var testItemStringTable = []struct {
 	origin interface{}
 	str    string
 }{
-	{"string", "http://www/any?query=1&query2=2", "http://www/any?query=1&query2=2"},
+	{"json-string", []string{`{"foo": "bar"}`}, `["{\"foo\": \"bar\"}"]`},
 	{"array", []int{1, 2, 3}, "[1,2,3]"},
 	{"number", 1.1, "1.1"},
 }