diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6d3cdcc8624..808b8e4886e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ variables:
   MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PROXY: "https://depot-read-api-java.us1.ddbuild.io/magicmirror/magicmirror/@current/"
   GRADLE_PLUGIN_PROXY: "https://depot-read-api-java.us1.ddbuild.io/magicmirror/magicmirror/@current/"
   BUILDER_IMAGE_REPO: "registry.ddbuild.io/images/mirror/dd-trace-java-docker-build" # images are pinned in images/mirror.lock.yaml in the DataDog/images repo
-  BUILDER_IMAGE_VERSION_PREFIX: "ci-" # use either an empty string (e.g. "") for latest images or a version followed by a hyphen (e.g. "ci-" or "123_merge-")
+  BUILDER_IMAGE_VERSION_PREFIX: "154_merge-" # use either an empty string (e.g. "") for latest images or a version followed by a hyphen (e.g. "ci-" or "123_merge-")
   REPO_NOTIFICATION_CHANNEL: "#apm-java-escalations"
   DEFAULT_TEST_JVMS: /^(8|11|17|21|25|tip)$/ # the latest "tip" version is 26
   PROFILE_TESTS: