IPython in VS Code : garbage collector apparently knows about variable before instantiation

I was trying to write a Python object tracker using gc.get_objects() to be used inside an existing and rather complex IPython notebook in VS Code to track potential memory "leaks" or forgotten data sets. I wanted to be able to track when new objects are instantiated and when they are deleted/collected and hence disappear from gc.get_objects().

During this, I encountered a situation, which I cannot explain.

The condensed minimal example is as follows:

1st cell:

import gc

__objs = gc.get_objects()
_objs = [id(o) for o in __objs]

#del __objs

2nd cell:

variable = ["test"]

3rd cell:

id(variable) in _objs

Running these 3 cells either manually or using "run all" results in the last cell to evaluate to "False", as expected. But if the "del __objs" statement in the 1st cell is un-commented, then the last cell evaluates to "True", which does not make sense to me at all.

Running everything in one cell or inside a .py file results in the correct "False" evaluation.

What exactly is going on here? How can the id from a variable, that is instantiated in the second cell end up in _objs, but only if __objs is deleted? And why does this happen only wit 3 separate cells?

Any help would be highly appreciated!