diff --git a/tests/unit/controllers/index-test.js b/tests/unit/controllers/index-test.js
index a0bdd28..0bce69e 100644
--- a/tests/unit/controllers/index-test.js
+++ b/tests/unit/controllers/index-test.js
@@ -18,11 +18,14 @@ let addFixtures = function(controller) {
   });
 
   [
-    { github_username: "neo", github_uid: "318", balance: "10000" },
-    { github_username: "morpheus", github_uid: "843", balance: "15000" },
-    { github_username: "trinity", github_uid: "123", balance: "5000" },
-    { github_username: "mouse", github_uid: "696", balance: "0" }
+    { github_username: "neo", github_uid: "318", balance: 10000 },
+    { github_username: "morpheus", github_uid: "843", balance: 15000 },
+    { github_username: "trinity", github_uid: "123", balance: 5000 },
+    { github_username: "mouse", github_uid: "696", balance: 0 }
   ].forEach(fixture => {
+    // we expect a bignumer but I don't want to add the bignumber dependency here... so this is some hack to return an object that looks good enough for the test
+    let fakeBignumber = function(balance) { return { toNumber: function() { return balance; } }; };
+    fixture.balance = fakeBignumber(fixture.balance);
     controller.get('model.contributors').push(Contributor.create(fixture));
   });
 };