diff --git a/lm_eval/evaluator.py b/lm_eval/evaluator.py
index 4bae6aaecc..a99588ff45 100644
--- a/lm_eval/evaluator.py
+++ b/lm_eval/evaluator.py
@@ -358,11 +358,15 @@ def _adjust_config(task_dict):
         add_env_info(results)  # additional environment info to results
         add_tokenizer_info(results, lm)  # additional info about tokenizer
         
-        del lm
+        if not isinstance(model, lm_eval.api.model.LM): 
+            del lm
+        
         return results
     else:
         
-        del lm
+        if not isinstance(model, lm_eval.api.model.LM):
+            del lm
+        
         return None