diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cache_watcher_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cache_watcher_test.go
index 1a59615ce39..3660717e856 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cache_watcher_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/cache_watcher_test.go
@@ -499,10 +499,22 @@ func TestCacheWatcherDrainingNoBookmarkAfterResourceVersionReceived(t *testing.T
 	w = newCacheWatcher(0, filter, forget, storage.APIObjectVersioner{}, time.Now(), true, schema.GroupResource{Resource: "pods"}, "")
 	w.setBookmarkAfterResourceVersion(10)
 	go w.processInterval(context.Background(), intervalFromEvents(initEvents), 0)
-	if w.add(&watchCacheEvent{Object: &v1.Pod{}}, time.NewTimer(1*time.Second)) {
+
+	// get an event so that
+	// we know the w.processInterval
+	// has been scheduled, and
+	// it will be blocked on
+	// sending the other event
+	// to the result chan
+	<-w.ResultChan()
+
+	// now, once we know, the processInterval
+	// is waiting add another event that will time out
+	// and start the cleanup process
+	if w.add(&watchCacheEvent{Object: &v1.Pod{}}, time.NewTimer(10*time.Millisecond)) {
 		t.Fatal("expected the add method to fail")
 	}
-	if err := wait.PollImmediate(1*time.Second, 5*time.Second, func() (bool, error) {
+	if err := wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(context.Background(), 100*time.Millisecond, 5*time.Second, true, func(_ context.Context) (bool, error) {
 		lock.RLock()
 		defer lock.RUnlock()
 		return count == 2, nil