diff --git a/requests/models.py b/requests/models.py
index 7ac85cc0..7126f08f 100644
--- a/requests/models.py
+++ b/requests/models.py
@@ -773,17 +773,10 @@ class Response(object):
 
         # Decode unicode from given encoding.
         try:
-            content = str(self.content, encoding)
+            content = str(self.content, encoding, errors='replace')
         except (UnicodeError, TypeError):
             pass
 
-        # Try to fall back:
-        if not content:
-            try:
-                content = str(content, encoding, errors='replace')
-            except (UnicodeError, TypeError):
-                pass
-
         return content