diff --git a/Lib/argparse.py b/Lib/argparse.py
index b44fa4f0f65c39..f6c3c58d4587fb 100644
--- a/Lib/argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/argparse.py
@@ -876,7 +876,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                 option_string = '--no-' + option_string[2:]
                 _option_strings.append(option_string)
 
-        if help is not None and default is not None:
+        if help is not None and default is not None and default is not SUPPRESS:
             help += " (default: %(default)s)"
 
         super().__init__(
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
index f3edde3de8eefb..f8040e3e8c3261 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
@@ -3611,6 +3611,8 @@ class TestHelpUsage(HelpTestCase):
         Sig('--bar', help='Whether to bar', default=True,
                      action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction),
         Sig('-f', '--foobar', '--barfoo', action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction),
+        Sig('--bazz', action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction,
+                      default=argparse.SUPPRESS, help='Bazz!'),
     ]
     argument_group_signatures = [
         (Sig('group'), [
@@ -3623,8 +3625,8 @@ class TestHelpUsage(HelpTestCase):
     usage = '''\
         usage: PROG [-h] [-w W [W ...]] [-x [X ...]] [--foo | --no-foo]
                     [--bar | --no-bar]
-                    [-f | --foobar | --no-foobar | --barfoo | --no-barfoo] [-y [Y]]
-                    [-z Z Z Z]
+                    [-f | --foobar | --no-foobar | --barfoo | --no-barfoo]
+                    [--bazz | --no-bazz] [-y [Y]] [-z Z Z Z]
                     a b b [c] [d ...] e [e ...]
         '''
     help = usage + '''\
@@ -3641,6 +3643,7 @@ class TestHelpUsage(HelpTestCase):
           --foo, --no-foo       Whether to foo
           --bar, --no-bar       Whether to bar (default: True)
           -f, --foobar, --no-foobar, --barfoo, --no-barfoo
+          --bazz, --no-bazz     Bazz!
 
         group:
           -y [Y]                y
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-12-15-06-29-00.bpo-46080.AuQpLt.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-12-15-06-29-00.bpo-46080.AuQpLt.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e42d84e31e759f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-12-15-06-29-00.bpo-46080.AuQpLt.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix exception in argparse help text generation if a
+:class:`argparse.BooleanOptionalAction` argument's default is
+``argparse.SUPPRESS`` and it has ``help`` specified.  Patch by Felix Fontein.
\ No newline at end of file