diff --git a/src/Basic_Requirement_Checker.php b/src/Basic_Requirement_Checker.php
index 0fc063e59307e9955c4795fb6daa2d9656c60b04..6b5a6e08a65275c2203de3108318d98a5cddcdb4 100644
--- a/src/Basic_Requirement_Checker.php
+++ b/src/Basic_Requirement_Checker.php
@@ -396,17 +396,12 @@ if ( ! class_exists( 'WPDesk_Basic_Requirement_Checker' ) ) {
 			if ( $use_transients ) {
 				return get_transient( self::PLUGIN_INFO_TRANSIENT_NAME );
 			} else {
-				try {
-					$plugins_option_value = json_decode( get_option( self::PLUGIN_INFO_TRANSIENT_NAME, '' ), true );
-					if ( is_array( $plugins_option_value )
-					     && isset( $plugins_option_value[ self::EXPIRATION_TIME ], $plugins_option_value[ self::PLUGINS ] )
-					     && (int) $plugins_option_value[ self::EXPIRATION_TIME ] > $current_time
-					) {
-						return $plugins_option_value[ self::PLUGINS ];
-					}
-				} catch ( \RuntimeException $e ) {
-					// Exception can be thrown when option is not json encoded
-					// Do nothing
+				$plugins_option_value = get_option( self::PLUGIN_INFO_TRANSIENT_NAME );
+				if ( is_array( $plugins_option_value )
+				     && isset( $plugins_option_value[ self::EXPIRATION_TIME ], $plugins_option_value[ self::PLUGINS ] )
+				     && (int) $plugins_option_value[ self::EXPIRATION_TIME ] > $current_time
+				) {
+					return $plugins_option_value[ self::PLUGINS ];
 				}
 			}
 
@@ -422,12 +417,11 @@ if ( ! class_exists( 'WPDesk_Basic_Requirement_Checker' ) ) {
 			if ( $use_transients ) {
 				set_transient( self::PLUGIN_INFO_TRANSIENT_NAME, $plugins, self::CACHE_TIME );
 			} else {
-				update_option( self::PLUGIN_INFO_TRANSIENT_NAME, json_encode( array(
+				update_option( self::PLUGIN_INFO_TRANSIENT_NAME, array(
 					self::EXPIRATION_TIME => $current_time + self::CACHE_TIME,
 					self::PLUGINS         => $plugins,
-				) ) );
+				) );
 			}
-
 		}
 
 		/**