diff --git a/baker/siteRenderers.tsx b/baker/siteRenderers.tsx
index 678d1685c11..4730d236056 100644
--- a/baker/siteRenderers.tsx
+++ b/baker/siteRenderers.tsx
@@ -811,7 +811,13 @@ export const renderExplorerPage = async (
                       config: row.grapherConfigETL as string,
                   })
                 : {}
-            return mergeGrapherConfigs(etlConfig, adminConfig)
+            const mergedConfig = mergeGrapherConfigs(etlConfig, adminConfig)
+            // explorers set their own dimensions, so we don't need to include them here
+            const mergedConfigWithoutDimensions = lodash.omit(
+                mergedConfig,
+                "dimensions"
+            )
+            return mergedConfigWithoutDimensions
         })
 
     const wpContent = transformedProgram.wpBlockId
diff --git a/explorer/Explorer.tsx b/explorer/Explorer.tsx
index ade08649379..42837cab502 100644
--- a/explorer/Explorer.tsx
+++ b/explorer/Explorer.tsx
@@ -588,22 +588,13 @@ export class Explorer
 
         // set given variable IDs as dimensions to make Grapher
         // download the data and metadata for these variables
-        const dimensions = config.dimensions ?? []
-        const variablesToLoad = yVariableIdsList
-            // Filter out variableIds that are already present in the dimensions array
-            .filter(
-                (yVariableId) =>
-                    !dimensions.some(
-                        (d) =>
-                            d.property === DimensionProperty.y &&
-                            d.variableId === yVariableId
-                    )
-            )
-            .map((yVariableId) => ({
+        const dimensions = config.dimensions?.slice() ?? []
+        yVariableIdsList.forEach((yVariableId) => {
+            dimensions.push({
                 variableId: yVariableId,
                 property: DimensionProperty.y,
-            }))
-        dimensions.push(...variablesToLoad)
+            })
+        })
 
         if (xVariableId) {
             const maybeXVariableId = parseIntOrUndefined(xVariableId)