diff --git a/trafilatura/utils.py b/trafilatura/utils.py
index 2bf7efa7..9475016c 100644
--- a/trafilatura/utils.py
+++ b/trafilatura/utils.py
@@ -464,4 +464,4 @@ def copy_attributes(dest_elem: _Element, src_elem: _Element) -> None:
 
 def is_in_table_cell(elem: _Element) -> bool:
     '''Check whether an element is in a table cell'''
-    return elem.xpath('//ancestor::cell')
+    return bool(elem.xpath('//ancestor::cell'))