diff --git a/litellm/constants.py b/litellm/constants.py
index 6a503463a8c..238d60e9dde 100644
--- a/litellm/constants.py
+++ b/litellm/constants.py
@@ -342,6 +342,7 @@ DEFAULT_REASONING_EFFORT_MINIMAL_THINKING_BUDGET: Final = get_env_int(
 # Provider-specific API base URLs
 XAI_API_BASE: Final = "https://api.x.ai/v1"
 PLACEHOLDER_API_KEY: Final = "fake-api-key"
+PLACEHOLDER_API_KEYS: Final = frozenset({PLACEHOLDER_API_KEY, "dummy-key"})
 OPEN_SANDBOX_API_BASE_ENV_VAR: Final = "OPEN_SANDBOX_API_BASE"
 OPEN_SANDBOX_API_KEY_ENV_VAR: Final = "OPEN_SANDBOX_API_KEY"
 OPEN_SANDBOX_DEFAULT_TEMPLATE: Final = "opensandbox/code-interpreter:v1.1.0"
diff --git a/litellm/main.py b/litellm/main.py
index 864906c1439..f42c2b104b7 100644
--- a/litellm/main.py
+++ b/litellm/main.py
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ from litellm.constants import (
     DEFAULT_MOCK_RESPONSE_PROMPT_TOKEN_COUNT,
     NADIR_DEFAULT_API_BASE,
     OPENAI_AUDIO_TRANSCRIPTION_PROVIDERS,
+    PLACEHOLDER_API_KEYS,
 )
 from litellm.exceptions import LiteLLMUnknownProvider
 from litellm.integrations.custom_logger import CustomLogger
@@ -8588,6 +8589,7 @@ def speech(
     model, custom_llm_provider, dynamic_api_key, api_base = get_llm_provider(
         model=model, custom_llm_provider=custom_llm_provider, api_base=api_base or base_url
     )
+    provider_api_key: Final = None if dynamic_api_key in PLACEHOLDER_API_KEYS else dynamic_api_key
     kwargs.pop("tags", [])
 
     optional_params = {}
@@ -8677,10 +8679,11 @@ def speech(
         # set API KEY
         api_key = (
             api_key
+            or provider_api_key  # for deepinfra/perplexity/anyscale we check in get_llm_provider and pass in the api key from there
             or litellm.api_key
             or litellm.openai_key
             or get_secret("OPENAI_API_KEY")
-            or dynamic_api_key  # for deepinfra/perplexity/anyscale we check in get_llm_provider and pass in the api key from there
+            or dynamic_api_key
         )
 
         organization = (
@@ -8763,11 +8766,11 @@ def speech(
 
             api_key = (
                 api_key
+                or provider_api_key
                 or litellm.api_key
                 or litellm.azure_key
                 or get_secret("AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY")
                 or get_secret("AZURE_API_KEY")
-                or dynamic_api_key
             )
 
             azure_ad_token: Final[str | None] = optional_params.get("extra_body", {}).pop(
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_main.py b/tests/unit/test_main.py
index 74cb80d348b..72c2ec0678d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_main.py
@@ -5011,13 +5011,13 @@ def _set_or_clear_env(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, values: dict[str, str | N
     ("provider_key", "openai_key", "sent_authorization"),
     [
         ("hosted-vllm-scoped-key", None, "Bearer hosted-vllm-scoped-key"),
-        ("hosted-vllm-scoped-key", "generic-openai-key", "Bearer generic-openai-key"),
+        ("hosted-vllm-scoped-key", "generic-openai-key", "Bearer hosted-vllm-scoped-key"),
         (None, "generic-openai-key", "Bearer generic-openai-key"),
         (None, None, "Bearer fake-api-key"),
     ],
-    ids=["provider-key-alone", "generic-key-still-wins", "generic-key-beats-placeholder", "placeholder-when-unset"],
+    ids=["provider-key-alone", "provider-key-beats-generic", "generic-key-beats-placeholder", "placeholder-when-unset"],
 )
-def test_speech_openai_compatible_falls_back_to_the_provider_scoped_key(
+def test_speech_openai_compatible_sends_the_provider_scoped_key(
     respx_mock: respx.MockRouter,
     monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
     provider_key: str | None,
@@ -5041,10 +5041,10 @@ def test_speech_openai_compatible_falls_back_to_the_provider_scoped_key(
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     ("generic_azure_key", "sent_api_key"),
-    [(None, "azure-ai-scoped-key"), ("generic-azure-key", "generic-azure-key")],
-    ids=["provider-key-alone", "generic-key-still-wins"],
+    [(None, "azure-ai-scoped-key"), ("generic-azure-key", "azure-ai-scoped-key")],
+    ids=["provider-key-alone", "provider-key-beats-generic"],
 )
-def test_speech_azure_falls_back_to_the_provider_scoped_key(
+def test_speech_azure_sends_the_provider_scoped_key(
     respx_mock: respx.MockRouter, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, generic_azure_key: str | None, sent_api_key: str
 ):
     _clear_global_tts_keys(monkeypatch)
@@ -5069,6 +5069,22 @@ def test_speech_azure_falls_back_to_the_provider_scoped_key(
     assert route.calls.last.request.headers["api-key"] == sent_api_key
 
 
+def test_speech_docker_model_runner_placeholder_does_not_beat_a_real_key(
+    respx_mock: respx.MockRouter, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+):
+    _clear_global_tts_keys(monkeypatch)
+    _set_or_clear_env(monkeypatch, {"DOCKER_MODEL_RUNNER_API_KEY": None, "OPENAI_API_KEY": "generic-openai-key"})
+    route: Final = respx_mock.post("https://dmr.internal/v1/audio/speech").mock(
+        return_value=httpx.Response(200, content=TTS_AUDIO, headers={"content-type": "audio/mpeg"})
+    )
+
+    litellm.speech(
+        model="docker_model_runner/tts-1", input="which key goes out", voice="alloy", api_base="https://dmr.internal/v1"
+    )
+
+    assert route.calls.last.request.headers["authorization"] == "Bearer generic-openai-key"
+
+
 def test_speech_keeps_an_explicitly_passed_api_key_over_the_provider_scoped_one(
     respx_mock: respx.MockRouter, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
 ):