diff --git a/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/Et2WidgetWithSelectMixin.ts b/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/Et2WidgetWithSelectMixin.ts
index 36c1c7ed50..b948b09b12 100644
--- a/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/Et2WidgetWithSelectMixin.ts
+++ b/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/Et2WidgetWithSelectMixin.ts
@@ -151,6 +151,19 @@ export const Et2widgetWithSelectMixin = dedupeMixin((superclass) =>
 			this.__select_options = cleanSelectOptions(new_options);
 
 			this.requestUpdate("select_options", old_options);
+
+			// if single selection and value does not match an option, use the first option
+			let first_option;
+			if (!this.multiple && !this.empty_label && !this.__select_options.filter(option => {
+				if (typeof first_option === 'undefined')
+				{
+					first_option = option;
+				}
+				return option.value === this.value;
+			}).length && typeof first_option !== 'undefined')
+			{
+				this.set_value(first_option.value);
+			}
 		}
 
 		/**
diff --git a/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts b/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts
index 361aa3cc3a..79e41b168d 100644
--- a/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts
+++ b/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts
@@ -240,6 +240,14 @@ export function cleanSelectOptions(options : SelectOption[] | string[] | object)
 	}
 	else
 	{
+		// make sure value is a string
+		options.forEach(option =>
+		{
+			if (typeof option.value !== 'string')
+			{
+				option.value = option.value.toString();
+			}
+		})
 		fixed_options = options;
 	}