diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/random_choice.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/random_choice.py
index 2b016c78d91..8888db43bc4 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/random_choice.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/random_choice.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ __metaclass__ = type
 
 import random
 
+from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
 from ansible.plugins.lookup import LookupBase
 
 # useful for introducing chaos ... or just somewhat reasonably fair selection
@@ -36,4 +38,11 @@ class LookupModule(LookupBase):
 
     def run(self, terms, inject=None, **kwargs):
 
-        return [random.choice(terms)]
+        ret = terms
+        if terms:
+            try:
+                ret = [random.choice(terms)]
+            except Exception as e:
+                raise AnsibleError("Unable to choose random term: %s" % to_native(e))
+
+        return ret