diff --git a/gateway/integrations/guardails.py b/gateway/integrations/guardails.py
index d77386b..feabfb8 100644
--- a/gateway/integrations/guardails.py
+++ b/gateway/integrations/guardails.py
@@ -365,8 +365,8 @@ class RequestInstrumentor(StreamInstrumentor):
 
         # pretend the 'request_task' is an async iterable with a single item
         result = [item async for item in self.stream(wrapped_request_task())]
-        assert len(result) == 1, "RequestInstrumentor should yield exactly one item"
-        return result[0]
+        assert len(result) >= 1, "RequestInstrumentor must yield at least one item"
+        return result[-1]
 
 
 async def check_guardrails(
diff --git a/gateway/routes/open_ai.py b/gateway/routes/open_ai.py
index 48696d8..0418e2d 100644
--- a/gateway/routes/open_ai.py
+++ b/gateway/routes/open_ai.py
@@ -486,6 +486,16 @@ async def handle_non_streaming_response(
             # block on the guardrails check
             guardrails_execution_result = await get_guardrails_check_result(context)
             if guardrails_execution_result.get("errors", []):
+                # Push annotated trace to the explorer - don't block on its response
+                if context.dataset_name:
+                    asyncio.create_task(
+                        push_to_explorer(
+                            context,
+                            {},
+                            guardrails_execution_result,
+                        )
+                    )
+
                 # replace the response with the error message
                 raise YieldException(
                     Response(