diff --git a/plugins/experimental/escalate/escalate.cc b/plugins/experimental/escalate/escalate.cc
index 0a249c6a964..4a9b1c08f7c 100644
--- a/plugins/experimental/escalate/escalate.cc
+++ b/plugins/experimental/escalate/escalate.cc
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ struct EscalationState {
 
   typedef std::map<unsigned, RetryInfo> StatusMapType;
 
-  EscalationState()
+  EscalationState() : use_pristine(false)
   {
     cont = TSContCreate(EscalateResponse, NULL);
     TSContDataSet(cont, this);
@@ -63,9 +63,25 @@ struct EscalationState {
 
   TSCont cont;
   StatusMapType status_map;
+  bool use_pristine;
 };
 
 
+// Little helper function, to update the Host portion of a URL, and stringify the result.
+// Returns the URL string, and updates url_len with the length.
+char *
+MakeEscalateUrl(TSMBuffer mbuf, TSMLoc url, const char *host, size_t host_len, int &url_len)
+{
+  char *url_str = NULL;
+
+  // Update the request URL with the new Host to try.
+  TSUrlHostSet(mbuf, url, host, host_len);
+  url_str = TSUrlStringGet(mbuf, url, &url_len);
+  TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Setting new URL to %.*s", url_len, url_str);
+
+  return url_str;
+}
+
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 // Main continuation for the plugin, examining an origin response for a potential retry.
 //
@@ -110,15 +126,20 @@ EscalateResponse(TSCont cont, TSEvent event, void *edata)
     url_len = entry->second.target.size();
     TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Setting new URL to %.*s", url_len, url_str);
   } else if (EscalationState::RETRY_HOST == entry->second.type) {
-    if (TS_SUCCESS == TSHttpTxnClientReqGet(txn, &mbuf, &hdrp)) {
-      if (TS_SUCCESS == TSHttpHdrUrlGet(mbuf, hdrp, &url)) {
-        // Update the request URL with the new Host to try.
-        TSUrlHostSet(mbuf, url, entry->second.target.c_str(), entry->second.target.size());
-        url_str = TSUrlStringGet(mbuf, url, &url_len);
-        TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Setting new Host: to %.*s", url_len, url_str);
+    if (es->use_pristine) {
+      if (TS_SUCCESS == TSHttpTxnPristineUrlGet(txn, &mbuf, &url)) {
+        url_str = MakeEscalateUrl(mbuf, url, entry->second.target.c_str(), entry->second.target.size(), url_len);
+        printf("STRING is %.*s\n", url_len, url_str);
+      }
+    } else {
+      if (TS_SUCCESS == TSHttpTxnClientReqGet(txn, &mbuf, &hdrp)) {
+        if (TS_SUCCESS == TSHttpHdrUrlGet(mbuf, hdrp, &url)) {
+          url_str = MakeEscalateUrl(mbuf, url, entry->second.target.c_str(), entry->second.target.size(), url_len);
+          printf("Old code STRING is %.*s\n", url_len, url_str);
+        }
+        // Release the request MLoc
+        TSHandleMLocRelease(mbuf, TS_NULL_MLOC, hdrp);
       }
-      // Release the request MLoc
-      TSHandleMLocRelease(mbuf, TS_NULL_MLOC, hdrp);
     }
   }
 
@@ -151,38 +172,43 @@ TSRemapNewInstance(int argc, char *argv[], void **instance, char *errbuf, int er
   for (int i = 2; i < argc; ++i) {
     char *sep, *token, *save;
 
-    // Each token should be a status code then a URL, separated by ':'.
-    sep = strchr(argv[i], ':');
-    if (sep == NULL) {
-      snprintf(errbuf, errbuf_size, "malformed status:target config: %s", argv[i]);
-      goto fail;
-    }
+    // Ugly, but we set the precedence before with non-command line parsing of args
+    if (0 == strncasecmp(argv[i], "--pristine", 10)) {
+      es->use_pristine = true;
+    } else {
+      // Each token should be a status code then a URL, separated by ':'.
+      sep = strchr(argv[i], ':');
+      if (sep == NULL) {
+        snprintf(errbuf, errbuf_size, "malformed status:target config: %s", argv[i]);
+        goto fail;
+      }
 
-    *sep = '\0';
-    ++sep; // Skip over the ':' (which is now \0)
+      *sep = '\0';
+      ++sep; // Skip over the ':' (which is now \0)
 
-    // OK, we have a valid status/URL pair.
-    EscalationState::RetryInfo info;
+      // OK, we have a valid status/URL pair.
+      EscalationState::RetryInfo info;
 
-    info.target = sep;
-    if (std::string::npos != info.target.find('/')) {
-      info.type = EscalationState::RETRY_URL;
-      TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Creating Redirect rule with URL = %s", sep);
-    } else {
-      info.type = EscalationState::RETRY_HOST;
-      TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Creating Redirect rule with Host = %s", sep);
-    }
+      info.target = sep;
+      if (std::string::npos != info.target.find('/')) {
+        info.type = EscalationState::RETRY_URL;
+        TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Creating Redirect rule with URL = %s", sep);
+      } else {
+        info.type = EscalationState::RETRY_HOST;
+        TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Creating Redirect rule with Host = %s", sep);
+      }
 
-    for (token = strtok_r(argv[i], ",", &save); token; token = strtok_r(NULL, ",", &save)) {
-      unsigned status = strtol(token, NULL, 10);
+      for (token = strtok_r(argv[i], ",", &save); token; token = strtok_r(NULL, ",", &save)) {
+        unsigned status = strtol(token, NULL, 10);
 
-      if (status < 100 || status > 599) {
-        snprintf(errbuf, errbuf_size, "invalid status code: %.*s", (int)std::distance(argv[i], sep), argv[i]);
-        goto fail;
-      }
+        if (status < 100 || status > 599) {
+          snprintf(errbuf, errbuf_size, "invalid status code: %.*s", (int)std::distance(argv[i], sep), argv[i]);
+          goto fail;
+        }
 
-      TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "      added status = %d to rule", status);
-      es->status_map[status] = info;
+        TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "      added status = %d to rule", status);
+        es->status_map[status] = info;
+      }
     }
   }