def strip_paint(payload):
    """
    Removes any console specific color characters.

    Where ``payload`` is a string containing special characters used to print
    colored output to the terminal.

    Returns a unicode string without the paint.
    """
    strip = [u'\x1b[31;1m', u'\x1b[32;1m', u'\x1b[33;1m', u'\x1b[39;22m']
    for paint in strip:
        payload = payload.replace(paint, '')
    return payload