diff --git a/pandas/core/groupby/groupby.py b/pandas/core/groupby/groupby.py
index 7fe9d7cb49eb5..36c7f53d23098 100644
--- a/pandas/core/groupby/groupby.py
+++ b/pandas/core/groupby/groupby.py
@@ -1817,9 +1817,7 @@ def describe(self, **kwargs):
             result = self.apply(lambda x: x.describe(**kwargs))
             if self.axis == 1:
                 return result.T
-            # FIXME: not being consolidated breaks
-            #  test_describe_with_duplicate_output_column_names
-            return result._consolidate().unstack()
+            return result.unstack()
 
     @final
     def resample(self, rule, *args, **kwargs):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/groupby/test_function.py b/pandas/tests/groupby/test_function.py
index 40f8135637292..163303168c240 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/groupby/test_function.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/groupby/test_function.py
@@ -1077,6 +1077,7 @@ def test_describe_with_duplicate_output_column_names(as_index):
             "c": [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60],
         },
         columns=["a", "b", "b"],
+        copy=False,
     )
 
     expected = (