Beautful People expels 5,000 members after festive weight gain

• Dating website axes singletons 'too fat' for its books

• US tops list of post-Christmas expulsions, followed by UK

guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 January 2010 15.58 GMT

Even for a dating service that boasts of being "the largest network of attractive people in the world", there is something unashamedly naked and upfront about BeautifulPeople.com's latest PR stunt.

The global community, which allows users to decide whether prospective candidates have got the necessary aesthetic appeal to join them, has just expelled more than 5,000 members for letting themselves go over the festive period.

BeautifulPeople.com said its hand had been forced by gluttonous members in the US, UK and Canada who had revealed the scale of their yuletide overindulgence in pictures posted online.

"Vigilant" fellow members, it added, had demanded action. "As a business, we mourn the loss of any member," said the site's founder, Robert Hintze. "But the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld."

To dispel any lingering doubts about the company's position, he added: "Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded."

The site's managing director, Greg Hodge, pointed out that the fate of the exiled "chubby members" had been democratically decided. "Their re-applications were reviewed by existing members and only a few hundred were voted back in," he said. "Over 5,000 were rejected."

Hodge blamed the slipping seasonal standards on decadent western traditions. "Every year we see that some of our members from western cultures eat and drink to excess over the holidays and clearly their looks suffer. In the UK and Canada, Christmas and the new year are all about over-eating, over-drinking and watching TV on the sofa."

The US, he added, appeared particularly prone to winter greediness. "The USA has been grossly over-indulging since thanksgiving – it's no wonder that so many members have been expelled from the network. We hope they will be back after shedding the festive pounds."

According to the site, however, managers have been kind in breaking the news to former members. Each is said to have received an email encouraging them to re-apply when they are back to looking their best. They have also been sent details of recommended boot camps.

Although the US topped the list of expulsions, with 1,520 members sent off, the UK came second, with 832 of its residents judged too fat to fit in. Canada was placed third, followed by Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Denmark, Turkey and Russia.

Despite the cull, the company said it still had 550,000 members from 190 countries, with Brazil faring especially well when it came to fielding new candidates.

Entry to BeautifulPeople.com, which promises "glamorous parties and a jet set global network", "approaches by leading film and TV companies", and "potential contracts from top modelling agencies", may not appeal to those mired in self-doubt. Existing members look at submitted photographs and profiles before passing judgment: "Yes definitely", "Hmm yes, OK", "Hmm no, not really", and "NO definitely NOT".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/201...id-dating-slobs

LaoPo

What a concept.

:D

The story, of course, is a hoax. The website got a lot of free publicity over something that never happened.

The story, of course, is a hoax. The website got a lot of free publicity over something that never happened.

well it worked, look at there web stats over 48 hrs

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/www.beautifu...amp;r=home_home

The story, of course, is a hoax. The website got a lot of free publicity over something that never happened.

well it worked, look at there web stats over 48 hrs

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/www.beautifu...amp;r=home_home

:D Unbelievable.

Some smart Promotion chaps working there.

LaoPo