diff --git a/bridge/irc/handlers.go b/bridge/irc/handlers.go
index 1d260071..47a0e933 100644
--- a/bridge/irc/handlers.go
+++ b/bridge/irc/handlers.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
-	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -177,10 +176,6 @@ func (b *Birc) handlePrivMsg(client *girc.Client, event girc.Event) {
 	// strip action, we made an event if it was an action
 	rmsg.Text += event.StripAction()
 
-	// strip IRC colors
-	re := regexp.MustCompile(`\x03(?:\d{1,2}(?:,\d{1,2})?)?|[[:cntrl:]]`)
-	rmsg.Text = re.ReplaceAllString(rmsg.Text, "")
-
 	// start detecting the charset
 	mycharset := b.GetString("Charset")
 	if mycharset == "" {
@@ -235,4 +230,4 @@ func (b *Birc) handleTopicWhoTime(client *girc.Client, event girc.Event) {
 		user += " [" + parts[1] + "]"
 	}
 	b.Log.Debugf("%s: Topic set by %s [%s]", event.Command, user, time.Unix(t, 0))
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file