diff --git a/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.test.ts b/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.test.ts
index 1772b9e..2d2e588 100644
--- a/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.test.ts
+++ b/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.test.ts
@@ -189,3 +189,35 @@ describe('cssValueAllowed: positive grammar (review finding 2)', () => {
     'url(https://example.com/x.png)', 'url(//example.com/x.png)', 'red \\9', 'red\u0001', 'var(x)', 'red !important',
   ])('rejects %s', (v) => expect(cssValueAllowed(v)).toBe(false));
 });
+
+// ---- round 4 item 4 (live case 5): a placehold.co image used as a BACKGROUND drew its ?text= label right
+// across the hero headline (published page and review render alike). Background uses lose the label: no
+// text, and the text colour = the box colour (placehold.co prints "W x H" when there is no text).
+describe('placehold.co backgrounds are label-free', () => {
+  const LIVE = 'https://placehold.co/1920x1080/101a2b/fbfaf7?text=Team+collaborating+in+a+modern+office';
+  test('BackgroundSection.bgImage from the live case', () => {
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ bgImage: LIVE }, 'BackgroundSection').bgImage).toBe('https://placehold.co/1920x1080/101a2b/101a2b');
+  });
+  test('HeroSimple.bgImage, backgroundImageUrl, CallToAction bgValue, ContentSlider slide images', () => {
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ bgImage: 'https://placehold.co/1600x900?text=Hero' }, 'HeroSimple').bgImage).toBe('https://placehold.co/1600x900/dddddd/dddddd');
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ backgroundImageUrl: 'https://placehold.co/1600x900/abc.png?text=x' }, 'Section').backgroundImageUrl).toBe('https://placehold.co/1600x900/aabbcc/aabbcc.png');
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ bgType: 'image', bgValue: 'https://placehold.co/1200x600/222222/ffffff?text=Band' }, 'CallToAction').bgValue).toBe('https://placehold.co/1200x600/222222/222222');
+    expect((cleanAiProps({ slides: [{ imageSrc: 'https://placehold.co/1200x600/000000/ffffff?text=Slide', heading: 'Hi' }] }, 'ContentSlider').slides as any)[0].imageSrc).toBe('https://placehold.co/1200x600/000000/000000');
+  });
+  test('an ordinary image keeps its label (it tells the owner what photo to source); non-placehold URLs untouched', () => {
+    const img = 'https://placehold.co/800x600/eeeeee/333333?text=Team+photo';
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ src: img }, 'ImageBlock').src).toBe(img);
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ bgImage: 'assets/hero.jpg' }, 'BackgroundSection').bgImage).toBe('assets/hero.jpg');
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ bgImage: 'https://images.pexels.com/photos/1/a.jpg?text=x' }, 'BackgroundSection').bgImage).toBe('https://images.pexels.com/photos/1/a.jpg?text=x');
+  });
+  test('the allow-list still applies first (a disallowed host is still dropped)', () => {
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ bgImage: 'https://evil.example/1920x1080?text=x' }, 'BackgroundSection').bgImage).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+  test('an off-spec placehold.co background path loses its query (label) and is otherwise left alone', () => {
+    expect(cleanAiProps({ bgImage: 'https://placehold.co/1920x1080/navy/white?text=Hi&font=roboto' }, 'BackgroundSection').bgImage).toBe('https://placehold.co/1920x1080/navy/white');
+  });
+  test('patch ops are cleaned the same way', () => {
+    const out = cleanAiResponse({ type: 'patch', message: 'm', ops: [{ op: 'update_props', node_id: 'ai-hero-1', props: { bgImage: LIVE } }] } as any, () => 'BackgroundSection') as any;
+    expect(out.ops[0].props.bgImage).toBe('https://placehold.co/1920x1080/101a2b/101a2b');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.ts b/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.ts
index 0231462..33bde68 100644
--- a/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.ts
+++ b/craft/src/sitesmith/clean-ai-response.ts
@@ -145,6 +145,30 @@ function urlKindFor(key: string, component: string | undefined): UrlKind | null
   return null;
 }
 
+/** Props that paint an image BEHIND content (component toHtml uses them as CSS background-image). */
+function isBackgroundImage(key: string, component: string | undefined): boolean {
+  return key === 'bgImage' || key === 'backgroundImageUrl' || key === 'bgValue' || (component === 'ContentSlider' && key === 'imageSrc');
+}
+
+const PLACEHOLD_PATH = /^\/(\d{1,4})x(\d{1,4})(?:\/([0-9a-f]{3}|[0-9a-f]{6}))?(?:\/([0-9a-f]{3}|[0-9a-f]{6}))?(\.(?:png|jpe?g|gif|webp|avif|svg))?$/i;
+const hex6 = (h: string) => (h.length === 3 ? h.split('').map((c) => c + c).join('') : h).toLowerCase();
+
+/**
+ * Round 4 (live case 5): a placehold.co image used as a BACKGROUND prints its label (`?text=`, or "W x H"
+ * without one) across whatever sits on top, e.g. the hero headline. Background placeholders lose the label:
+ * the query is dropped and the text colour is set to the box colour. Called only on a URL the allow-list
+ * already accepted; anything that is not a placehold.co URL is returned unchanged.
+ */
+export function labelFreePlaceholder(url: string): string {
+  let u: URL;
+  try { u = new URL(url); } catch { return url; }
+  if (u.hostname.toLowerCase() !== 'placehold.co') return url;
+  const m = PLACEHOLD_PATH.exec(u.pathname);
+  if (!m) return `https://placehold.co${u.pathname}`;
+  const bg = m[3] ? hex6(m[3]) : 'dddddd';
+  return `https://placehold.co/${m[1]}x${m[2]}/${bg}/${bg}${m[5] ?? ''}`;
+}
+
 /** Clean one value under `key`; returns undefined to drop it. */
 function cleanValue(key: string, value: unknown, component: string | undefined, depth: number): unknown {
   if (depth > 8) return undefined;
@@ -158,12 +182,13 @@ function cleanValue(key: string, value: unknown, component: string | undefined,
     }
     if (value && typeof value === 'object') return cleanObject(value, component, depth + 1);
     const ok = allowUrl(kind, value);
+    if (ok && kind === 'image' && isBackgroundImage(key, component)) return labelFreePlaceholder(ok);
     return ok === null ? undefined : ok;
   }
   // CallToAction.bgValue is a colour/gradient, or an image URL when bgType is 'image'.
   if (key === 'bgValue' && typeof value === 'string' && /^\s*([a-z][a-z0-9+.-]*:|\/|assets\/)/i.test(value)) {
     const ok = allowUrl('image', value);
-    return ok === null ? undefined : ok;
+    return ok === null ? undefined : ok === '' ? ok : labelFreePlaceholder(ok);
   }
   if (ID_KEYS.has(key)) return typeof value === 'string' && /^[A-Za-z0-9_-]{1,64}$/.test(value) ? value : undefined;
   if (key === 'icon') return typeof value === 'string' && /^[A-Za-z0-9 _-]{0,80}$/.test(value) ? value : undefined;