diff --git a/DECISIONS.md b/DECISIONS.md
index 9e03cf1..73759d4 100644
--- a/DECISIONS.md
+++ b/DECISIONS.md
@@ -827,10 +827,18 @@ The fix is resilience around it, not replacing it.
 **Decision.**
 1. **Ordered endpoint chain (`summarizer.NewChain`).** Endpoints are tried in order; the first to
    return a *parseable* summary wins. Default chain:
-   `koala/phi4-mini` (primary, local) → `koala/phi4-14b` (fallback, local) →
-   `berget/mistral-small` (worst-case, external). All three are reached through the **one** LiteLLM
-   gateway by alias — the gateway already fronts both llama-swap and berget — so a fallback is a
-   different alias, not a second client config.
+   `koala/phi4-mini` (primary, local) → `iguana/gemma4-26b` (fallback, local on a
+   *different host*) → `berget/mistral-small` (worst-case, external). All three are reached through
+   the **one** LiteLLM gateway by alias — the gateway already fronts both llama-swap and berget — so
+   a fallback is a different alias, not a second client config.
+
+   **Update 2026-06-11:** the local fallback moved from `koala/phi4-14b` to `iguana/gemma4-26b`.
+   koala now carries other GPU loads, so keeping the fallback on koala competed with them; iguana
+   (M2 Ultra) has the headroom, and a different host is also a different egress IP for the rare
+   fallback fetch. `gemma4-26b` is the brain-validated homelab general-purpose model (agentsquad
+   H2/H3 executor) and returned valid summary JSON on the real prompt in a smoke test
+   (~37s incl. cold-load — fine for a path hit only when the fast primary fails). Pure config:
+   `TAPIR_FALLBACK_MODEL`.
 2. **A parse failure advances the chain, same as a transport error.** "Reliably summarized" means
    *parseable summary returned*, not *HTTP 200*. This is the behaviour the old Primary→Fallback
    shape missed.
diff --git a/docs/homelab-integration.md b/docs/homelab-integration.md
index 69c51ba..1f452cc 100644
--- a/docs/homelab-integration.md
+++ b/docs/homelab-integration.md
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ it** — endpoints and aliases drift, and this file is a snapshot (2026-06-06),
 - **Summarizer fallback chain (ADR-022).** The primary alias is the *first* of an ordered chain;
   on failure or unparseable output the summarizer advances to the next model. All reached through
   the same gateway by alias.
-  - `TAPIR_FALLBACK_MODEL` — local fallback. **Default `koala/phi4-14b`.** Empty disables it.
+  - `TAPIR_FALLBACK_MODEL` — local fallback. **Default `iguana/gemma4-26b`** — on iguana, NOT
+    koala, so the fallback does not compete with koala's other GPU loads (and runs from a different
+    egress IP). Empty disables it.
   - `TAPIR_CLOUD_FALLBACK_MODEL` — worst-case EXTERNAL fallback. **Default `berget/mistral-small`.**
     **Set this empty (`""`) for any client/NDA deployment** so content never leaves the local
     stack — the chain then contains only local endpoints.
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 79e2dfb..4ffa0e4 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -33,7 +33,10 @@ type Config struct {
 	SummarizerModel string
 	// FallbackModel is the LOCAL fallback alias tried when the primary fails or
 	// returns unparseable output (ADR-022). Kept local so content stays on the
-	// homelab stack. Empty disables it. Default a bigger-context local model.
+	// homelab stack. Default is an IGUANA model (not koala) so the fallback runs
+	// on a different host than the koala primary — koala carries other loads, and
+	// a different host also means a different egress IP for the (rare) fallback.
+	// Empty disables it.
 	FallbackModel string
 	// CloudFallbackModel is the worst-case EXTERNAL fallback alias, tried only
 	// after every local endpoint has failed (ADR-022). For client deployments set
@@ -148,7 +151,7 @@ func (c Config) DexConfigured() bool { return strings.TrimSpace(c.OIDCIssuer) !=
 const (
 	defaultGatewayURL            = "http://koala:30401/v1"
 	defaultSummarizerModel       = "koala/phi4-mini"
-	defaultFallbackModel         = "koala/phi4-14b"
+	defaultFallbackModel         = "iguana/gemma4-26b"
 	defaultCloudFallbackModel    = "berget/mistral-small"
 	defaultSummaryMaxTokens      = 1500
 	defaultMaxTranscriptChars    = 18000