diff --git a/jbehave-core/src/main/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactory.java b/jbehave-core/src/main/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactory.java
index c9c8cda73..2daf1593a 100755
--- a/jbehave-core/src/main/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactory.java
+++ b/jbehave-core/src/main/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactory.java
@@ -99,6 +99,11 @@ public ExamplesTable createExamplesTable(String input) {
             String loadedTable = resourceLoader.loadResourceAsText(tableAsString.trim());
             tablePropertiesQueue = tableParsers.parseProperties(loadedTable);
             Deque<TableProperties> target = tablePropertiesQueue.getProperties();
+            TableProperties headProperties = target.peekFirst();
+            for (TableProperties outerProperties : properties) {
+                outerProperties.overrideSeparatorsFrom(headProperties);
+                target.addLast(outerProperties);
+            }
 
             boolean hasTransformers = target.getFirst().getTransformer() != null;
             if (hasTransformers) {
@@ -115,7 +120,6 @@ public ExamplesTable createExamplesTable(String input) {
                     target = tablePropertiesQueue.getProperties();
                 }
             }
-            properties.descendingIterator().forEachRemaining(target::addFirst);
 
             tablePropertiesQueue = new TablePropertiesQueue(tablePropertiesQueue.getTable(), target);
         }
diff --git a/jbehave-core/src/test/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactoryBehaviour.java b/jbehave-core/src/test/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactoryBehaviour.java
index 533d4e9cc..c46c507c8 100755
--- a/jbehave-core/src/test/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactoryBehaviour.java
+++ b/jbehave-core/src/test/java/org/jbehave/core/model/ExamplesTableFactoryBehaviour.java
@@ -145,8 +145,7 @@ void shouldLoadAndProperlyApplyTransformersForExamplesTableFromResourceInput() {
 
         // Then
         assertThat(examplesTable.asString(), equalTo(
-                          innerTransformers
-                        + lineFromFirstOuterTransformer
+                          lineFromFirstOuterTransformer
                         + lineFromSecondOuterTransformer
                         + lineFromFirstInnerTransformer
                         + lineFromSecondInnerTransformer));
@@ -179,7 +178,7 @@ void shouldLoadTableFromPathAndPreserveSeparators() {
         ExamplesTableFactory factory = new ExamplesTableFactory(new LoadFromClasspath(), new TableTransformers());
 
         // When
-        ExamplesTable table = factory.createExamplesTable("data.table");
+        ExamplesTable table = factory.createExamplesTable("{transformer=FORMATTING}\ndata.table");
 
         // Then
         assertThat(table.getHeaders(), equalTo(asList("symbol", "threshold", "price", "status")));