diff --git a/tests/remote/test_remote_hostvars.py b/tests/remote/test_remote_hostvars.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 8cdc2ad36b..0000000000
--- a/tests/remote/test_remote_hostvars.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,80 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2019 Red Hat, Inc.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
-# not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
-# a copy of the License at
-#
-#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
-# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
-# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
-# under the License.
-
-import os
-import textwrap
-
-import yaml
-
-from tests.base import AnsibleZuulTestCase
-
-
-class TestZuulHostVars(AnsibleZuulTestCase):
-    tenant_config_file = 'config/remote-zuul-json/main.yaml'
-
-    def setUp(self):
-        super().setUp()
-        self.fake_nodepool.remote_ansible = True
-
-        ansible_remote = os.environ.get('ZUUL_REMOTE_IPV4')
-        self.assertIsNotNone(ansible_remote)
-
-    def _run_job(self, job_name):
-        # Keep the jobdir around so we can inspect contents if an
-        # assert fails. It will be cleaned up anyway as it is contained
-        # in a tmp dir which gets cleaned up after the test.
-        self.executor_server.keep_jobdir = True
-
-        # Output extra ansible info so we might see errors.
-        self.executor_server.verbose = True
-        conf = textwrap.dedent(
-            """
-            - job:
-                name: {job_name}
-                run: playbooks/{job_name}.yaml
-                roles:
-                  - zuul: org/common-config
-                nodeset:
-                  nodes:
-                    - name: controller
-                      label: whatever
-                host-vars:
-                  controller:
-                    ansible_python_interpreter: python2
-
-            - project:
-                check:
-                  jobs:
-                    - {job_name}
-            """.format(job_name=job_name))
-
-        file_dict = {'zuul.yaml': conf}
-        A = self.fake_gerrit.addFakeChange('org/project', 'master', 'A',
-                                           files=file_dict)
-        self.fake_gerrit.addEvent(A.getPatchsetCreatedEvent(1))
-        self.waitUntilSettled()
-
-        job = self.getJobFromHistory(job_name)
-        return job
-
-    def test_hostvars(self):
-        job = self._run_job('no-log')
-        with self.jobLog(job):
-            build = self.history[-1]
-            inventory = yaml.safe_load(open(os.path.join(
-                self.jobdir_root, build.uuid, 'ansible', 'inventory.yaml')))
-            self.assertEqual(
-                "python2",
-                inventory["all"]["hosts"]["controller"][
-                    "ansible_python_interpreter"])
diff --git a/tests/remote/test_remote_zuul_json.py b/tests/remote/test_remote_zuul_json.py
index 688894190f..36db277d8c 100644
--- a/tests/remote/test_remote_zuul_json.py
+++ b/tests/remote/test_remote_zuul_json.py
@@ -91,10 +91,8 @@ class FunctionalZuulJSONMixIn:
             text = self._get_json_as_text(build)
             json_result = json.loads(text)
             tasks = json_result[0]['plays'][0]['tasks']
-            # NOTE(pabelanger): In 2.8 gather_facts are now logged as an
-            # expected action.
             expected_actions = [
-                'gather_facts', 'debug', 'debug', 'debug', 'copy', 'find',
+                'debug', 'debug', 'debug', 'copy', 'find',
                 'stat', 'debug'
             ]
             for i, expected in enumerate(expected_actions):
@@ -111,12 +109,10 @@ class FunctionalZuulJSONMixIn:
             self.assertIn('json-role', text)
 
             json_result = json.loads(text)
-            # NOTE(pabelanger): In 2.8 gather_facts are now logged as the
-            # first task.
-            role_name = json_result[0]['plays'][0]['tasks'][1]['role']['name']
+            role_name = json_result[0]['plays'][0]['tasks'][0]['role']['name']
             self.assertEqual('json-role', role_name)
 
-            role_path = json_result[0]['plays'][0]['tasks'][1]['role']['path']
+            role_path = json_result[0]['plays'][0]['tasks'][0]['role']['path']
             self.assertEqual('json-role', os.path.basename(role_path))
 
     def test_json_time_log(self):
diff --git a/tests/zuul_client/test_zuulclient.py b/tests/zuul_client/test_zuulclient.py
index 5cb38eb7f2..a5e9003c7a 100644
--- a/tests/zuul_client/test_zuulclient.py
+++ b/tests/zuul_client/test_zuulclient.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import textwrap
 
 import zuul.web
 import zuul.rpcclient
-from zuul.lib.yamlutil import yaml
+from zuul.lib import yamlutil
 
 from tests.base import iterate_timeout
 from tests.base import ZuulDBTestCase, AnsibleZuulTestCase
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ class TestZuulClientEncrypt(BaseTestWeb):
         build = self.getJobFromHistory(job)
         for pb in getattr(build.jobdir, pbtype):
             if pb.secrets_content:
-                secrets.append(yaml.safe_load(pb.secrets_content))
+                secrets.append(
+                    yamlutil.ansible_unsafe_load(pb.secrets_content))
             else:
                 secrets.append({})
         return secrets