diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 59a760c4bd3..c27c1053f1e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -230,7 +230,6 @@ Milos Djermanovic
 </a>
 </td></tr></tbody></table>
 
-
 ### Reviewers
 
 The people who review and implement new features.
@@ -247,9 +246,6 @@ Toru Nagashima
 </a>
 </td></tr></tbody></table>
 
-
-
-
 ### Committers
 
 The people who review and fix bugs and help triage issues.
@@ -286,7 +282,6 @@ Nitin Kumar
 </a>
 </td></tr></tbody></table>
 
-
 <!--teamend-->
 
 ## <a name="sponsors"></a>Sponsors
diff --git a/tools/update-readme.js b/tools/update-readme.js
index 55efb6f2c52..0704ceff137 100644
--- a/tools/update-readme.js
+++ b/tools/update-readme.js
@@ -123,5 +123,8 @@ let newReadme = readme.replace(/<!--teamstart-->[\w\W]*?<!--teamend-->/u, ejs.re
 
 newReadme = newReadme.replace(/<!--sponsorsstart-->[\w\W]*?<!--sponsorsend-->/u, formatSponsors(allSponsors));
 
+// replace multiple consecutive blank lines with just one blank line
+newReadme = newReadme.replace(/(?<=^|\n)\n{2,}/gu, "\n");
+
 // output to the file
 fs.writeFileSync(README_FILE_PATH, newReadme, "utf8");