diff --git a/reusable_workflows/check_membership/check_external_contrib.py b/reusable_workflows/check_membership/check_external_contrib.py
index d99a2d9..fdd1d90 100644
--- a/reusable_workflows/check_membership/check_external_contrib.py
+++ b/reusable_workflows/check_membership/check_external_contrib.py
@@ -15,9 +15,8 @@ def get_repos_open_to_contributions(gh: github3.login) -> List[str]:
 
     file_content = download_gh_file(repo, file_path)
 
-    # convert .txt file to list
-    repo_list = file_content.split("\n")
-    repo_list.remove("")
+    # convert .txt file to list and strip out comments
+    repo_list = [line.split("#")[0].strip() for line in file_content.split("\n") if line.split("#")[0].strip()]
     return repo_list
 
 
diff --git a/reusable_workflows/tests/test_check_external_contrib.py b/reusable_workflows/tests/test_check_external_contrib.py
index 296720f..7710b6e 100644
--- a/reusable_workflows/tests/test_check_external_contrib.py
+++ b/reusable_workflows/tests/test_check_external_contrib.py
@@ -14,13 +14,16 @@ def test_check_repos_open_to_contributions():
     gh = mock.Mock()
     gh_repo = mock.Mock()
     file_contents = mock.Mock()
-    file_contents.decoded.decode.return_value = "one-repo\nanother-repo\n"
+    repo_list = open(
+        "reusable_workflows/tests/test_data/repo_list.txt", "r"
+    ).read()
+    file_contents.decoded.decode.return_value = repo_list
     gh_repo.file_contents.return_value = file_contents
     gh.repository.return_value = gh_repo
 
     repo_list = get_repos_open_to_contributions(gh)
 
-    assert repo_list == ["one-repo", "another-repo"]
+    assert repo_list == ["one-repo", "another-repo", "yet-another-repo"]
     gh.repository.assert_called_with(
         owner="dfinity", repository="repositories-open-to-contributions"
     )
diff --git a/reusable_workflows/tests/test_data/repo_list.txt b/reusable_workflows/tests/test_data/repo_list.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67fb8b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reusable_workflows/tests/test_data/repo_list.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+one-repo
+another-repo # this comment should be ignored
+# this comment should also be ignored
+yet-another-repo