diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 69efa0b1..0e4d3496 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
+### Removed
+- BREAKING CHANGE: Remove synthetic step for empty pickles ([#125](https://github.com/cucumber/fake-cucumber/pull/125))
 
 ## [16.5.0] - 2024-08-01
 ### Added
diff --git a/features/empty.feature b/features/empty.feature
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3d6a1dca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/features/empty.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Feature: Empty feature
+  Scenario: Empty scenario
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/EmptyPickleTestStep.ts b/src/EmptyPickleTestStep.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index eacadcbc..00000000
--- a/src/EmptyPickleTestStep.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-import * as messages from '@cucumber/messages'
-
-import TestStep from './TestStep'
-
-export default class EmptyPickleTestStep extends TestStep {
-  public toMessage(): messages.TestStep {
-    return {
-      id: this.id,
-    }
-  }
-}
diff --git a/src/makeTestCase.ts b/src/makeTestCase.ts
index ab890f9b..d1fc46f5 100644
--- a/src/makeTestCase.ts
+++ b/src/makeTestCase.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { Query } from '@cucumber/gherkin-utils'
 import * as messages from '@cucumber/messages'
 
-import EmptyPickleTestStep from './EmptyPickleTestStep'
 import { MakeErrorMessage } from './ErrorMessageGenerator'
 import IClock from './IClock'
 import IStopwatch from './IStopwatch'
@@ -27,21 +26,6 @@ export default function makeTestCase(
   makePickleTestStep: MakePickleTestStep,
   makeHookStep: MakeHookTestStep
 ): TestCase {
-  if (pickle.steps.length === 0) {
-    const id = newId()
-    const undefinedStep = new EmptyPickleTestStep(
-      id,
-      undefined,
-      true,
-      [],
-      [],
-      clock,
-      stopwatch,
-      makeErrorMessage
-    )
-    return new TestCase(newId(), [undefinedStep], pickle.id, clock)
-  }
-
   const beforeHookSteps = makeHookSteps(
     pickle,
     beforeHooks,
diff --git a/test/makeTestCaseTest.ts b/test/makeTestCaseTest.ts
index b9198fd1..1c3090c4 100644
--- a/test/makeTestCaseTest.ts
+++ b/test/makeTestCaseTest.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ describe('makeTestCase', () => {
   })
 
   context('when the pickle has no steps', () => {
-    it('generates a synthetic undefined test step', async () => {
+    it('generates an empty test case', async () => {
       // See https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber/issues/249
       const pickle: messages.Pickle = {
         id: 'some-id',
@@ -69,8 +69,14 @@ describe('makeTestCase', () => {
       const messageList: messages.Envelope[] = []
       const listener: EnvelopeListener = (message: messages.Envelope) =>
         messageList.push(message)
-      await testCase.execute(listener, 0, false, 'some-test-case-started-id')
-      assert.strictEqual(messageList.length, 4)
+      const status = await testCase.execute(
+        listener,
+        0,
+        false,
+        'some-test-case-started-id'
+      )
+      assert.strictEqual(status, messages.TestStepResultStatus.UNKNOWN)
+      assert.strictEqual(messageList.length, 2)
     })
   })