diff --git a/Modules/_testcapimodule.c b/Modules/_testcapimodule.c
index 0e09c97bea09a5..1624a93ec3f3e3 100644
--- a/Modules/_testcapimodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_testcapimodule.c
@@ -3375,6 +3375,7 @@ slot_tp_del(PyObject *self)
     }
     /* Execute __del__ method, if any. */
     del = _PyType_Lookup(Py_TYPE(self), tp_del);
+    Py_DECREF(tp_del);
     if (del != NULL) {
         res = PyObject_CallOneArg(del, self);
         if (res == NULL)