remove() returns the entire set of elements that match the selector, not just the set of elements it just removed.
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"> </script> </head> <body> <p>remove me</p> <script> $(function() { var p = $("p").remove(); console.log(p); }); </script> </body> </html>