diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go
index ab10774cbe0..f9735a8393e 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@ type ResourceExpirationEvaluator interface {
 }
 
 func NewResourceExpirationEvaluator(currentVersion apimachineryversion.Info) (ResourceExpirationEvaluator, error) {
-	ret := &resourceExpirationEvaluator{}
+	ret := &resourceExpirationEvaluator{
+		// TODO https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/101951 set this back to false after beta is tagged.
+		strictRemovedHandlingInAlpha: true,
+	}
 	if len(currentVersion.Major) > 0 {
 		currentMajor64, err := strconv.ParseInt(currentVersion.Major, 10, 32)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds_test.go
index 8cbcd2f59cb..9d2f2d5f44a 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds_test.go
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ func Test_newResourceExpirationEvaluator(t *testing.T) {
 				return
 			}
 
+			actual.(*resourceExpirationEvaluator).strictRemovedHandlingInAlpha = false
 			if !reflect.DeepEqual(tt.expected, *actual.(*resourceExpirationEvaluator)) {
 				t.Fatal(actual)
 			}