diff --git a/chat/src/main/java/net/md_5/bungee/chat/ComponentSerializer.java b/chat/src/main/java/net/md_5/bungee/chat/ComponentSerializer.java
index 5756fc4a..da801828 100644
--- a/chat/src/main/java/net/md_5/bungee/chat/ComponentSerializer.java
+++ b/chat/src/main/java/net/md_5/bungee/chat/ComponentSerializer.java
@@ -39,12 +39,17 @@ public class ComponentSerializer implements JsonDeserializer<BaseComponent>
 
     public static String toString(BaseComponent component)
     {
-        return gson.toJson( component );
+        // 1.9 Requires the first component to not be a plain string which can
+        // happen if a text component has no formatting. This optimization is
+        // still useful when nested more so we just manually wrap everything in
+        // an extra text component.
+        return "{\"text\":\"\", \"extra\": [" + gson.toJson( component ) + "]}";
     }
 
     public static String toString(BaseComponent... components)
     {
-        return gson.toJson( new TextComponent( components ) );
+        // See above
+        return "{\"text\":\"\", \"extra\": [" + gson.toJson( new TextComponent( components ) ) + "]}";
     }
 
     @Override