diff --git a/app/jobs/email_digest_job.py b/app/jobs/email_digest_job.py
index 6274231..a2814a5 100644
--- a/app/jobs/email_digest_job.py
+++ b/app/jobs/email_digest_job.py
@@ -184,7 +184,12 @@ async def run() -> None:
         written = 0
         for u in fresh:
             tone = (u.digest_tone or "INTERMEDIATE").upper()
-            content = variants.get(tone) or variants.get("INTERMEDIATE")
+            # Fall back to INTERMEDIATE first (the more common tone) and then
+            # to whatever variant succeeded, so an asymmetric LLM failure
+            # doesn't silently skip the user.
+            content = (variants.get(tone)
+                       or variants.get("INTERMEDIATE")
+                       or next(iter(variants.values()), None))
             if content is None:
                 continue
             await _send_one(u, kind, content, date_str, session)