diff --git a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
index 3c846274..7811d3ba 100644
--- a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
+++ b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
@@ -1343,9 +1343,15 @@ _mysql_ResultObject_fetch_row(
     convert_row = row_converters[how];
     if (maxrows) {
         if (!(r = PyTuple_New(maxrows))) goto error;
-        rowsadded = _mysql__fetch_row(self, &r, skiprows, maxrows,
-                convert_row);
+
+        // see: https://docs.python.org/3/library/gc.html#gc.get_referrers
+        // This function can get a reference to the tuple r, and if that
+        // code is preempted while holding a ref to r, the _PyTuple_Resize
+        // will raise a SystemError because the ref count is 2.
+        PyObject_GC_UnTrack(r);
+        rowsadded = _mysql__fetch_row(self, &r, skiprows, maxrows, convert_row);
         if (rowsadded == -1) goto error;
+        PyObject_GC_Track(r);
     } else {
         if (self->use) {
             maxrows = 1000;