diff --git a/src/NzbDrone.Core/Indexers/FileList/FileListParser.cs b/src/NzbDrone.Core/Indexers/FileList/FileListParser.cs
index 475301bdd..76266186c 100644
--- a/src/NzbDrone.Core/Indexers/FileList/FileListParser.cs
+++ b/src/NzbDrone.Core/Indexers/FileList/FileListParser.cs
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.Indexers.FileList
 
         public IList<ReleaseInfo> ParseResponse(IndexerResponse indexerResponse)
         {
-            var torrentInfos = new List<ReleaseInfo>();
-
             if (indexerResponse.HttpResponse.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
             {
                 throw new IndexerException(indexerResponse,
@@ -27,6 +25,13 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.Indexers.FileList
                     indexerResponse.HttpResponse.StatusCode);
             }
 
+            if (!indexerResponse.HttpResponse.Headers.ContentType.Contains(HttpAccept.Json.Value))
+            {
+                throw new IndexerException(indexerResponse, "Unexpected response header {0} from indexer request, expected {1}", indexerResponse.HttpResponse.Headers.ContentType, HttpAccept.Json.Value);
+            }
+
+            var torrentInfos = new List<ReleaseInfo>();
+
             var queryResults = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<FileListTorrent>>(indexerResponse.Content);
 
             foreach (var result in queryResults)