diff --git a/src/ng/directive/select.js b/src/ng/directive/select.js
index 0b562cca686c..00978da47787 100644
--- a/src/ng/directive/select.js
+++ b/src/ng/directive/select.js
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ var selectDirective = ['$compile', '$parse', function($compile,   $parse) {
                   lastElement.val(existingOption.id = option.id);
                 }
                 // lastElement.prop('selected') provided by jQuery has side-effects
-                if (lastElement[0].selected !== option.selected) {
+                if (existingOption.selected !== option.selected) {
                   lastElement.prop('selected', (existingOption.selected = option.selected));
                 }
               } else {