Festive fatties tossed from BeautifulPeople dating site

by Stevie Smith - Jan 5 2010, 06:25

Already somewhat contentious due to its strict user-approved application process, online dating service and social network BeautifulPeople.com is back in the headlines after more than 5,000 members had their accounts closed for piling on the pounds over the recent Christmas holiday.

Seemingly deemed too heavy to qualify as ‘beautiful’ in the eyes of their fellow users, the culled fatties fell to the shallow scythe of selective appreciation after (foolishly) posting photographs of themselves taken over the typically food-filled festive period.

“As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld,” commented site founder Robert Hintze in a company statement.

“Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded,” he added regarding the subjective judgement handed down by other BeautifulPeople users.

According to the online description of its services, BeautifulPeople exercises a “strict ban on ugly people,” and exists as an “elite online club, where every member works the door...” Notably, photo-equipped profile applications are only approved if enough members vote favourably regarding physical appeal during an initial 48-hour appraisal.

The official statement from BeautifulPeople was keen to note that the “newly chubby members” were not completely banned from inclusion but rather had had their accounts shifted back to the evaluation stage. Only a few hundred of the 5,000 were voted back in.

However, those presently sporting saggy jowls or unsightly muffin tops can still hold out hope of returning to the site’s fickle fold if they’re prepared to put in the post-Christmas legwork and recapture their outward beauty.

“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,” said Greg Hodge, the site’s managing director.

“The U.S.A. has been grossly over-indulging since Thanksgiving. It’s no wonder that so many members have been expelled from the network,” he added. “We hope they will be back after shedding the festive pounds.”

In terms of geographical and waistline ‘spread’, members in the U.S.A. were the worst hit, losing 1,520 places on BeautifulPeople, while the United Kingdom followed not far behind with 832 expulsions.

Canada, Poland and Germany round out the top-five with respective member losses of 533, 510 and 425.

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