'Ugly' people invade BeautifulPeople.com

Have you had a hard time finding attractive people on online dating sites? BeautifulPeople.com is a pay-by-month dating service that ruthlessly screens all applicants and admits only the best looking ones.

But someone, perhaps a former employee or a reject, recently hacked the site and admitted 30,000 people who weren't deemed the most beautiful. Gasp! The horror!

The virus that broke into their system was aptly named Shrek, and admitted 30,000 who were never screened. But the website is quickly kicking them all off their site and refunding their $25/month membership fees.

Greg Hodge, the site's managing director told the Guardian, "We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period, many of whom were no oil painting...We have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people – that's what our members have paid for. We can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet."

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The company claim they've already paid out $112,500 in refunds to 4,500 people.

A hotline has been set up to handle any of the people with hurt feelings who were cast off the "Island,” as Hodge calls it.

In order to become a member of Beautiful People.com you must submit a photo, your height, weight, and measurements, describe your body type, and reveal whether you own a car or home, as well as your zodiac sign.

Current members vote on whether you are "beautiful" or "absolutely not" attractive. Apparently last year around 5,000 members were kicked off the site after they appeared to have gained weight over the holidays. Ouch.

The site says about one in seven applicants are admitted (5.5 million have been rejected), and that they currently have 700,000 members representing 190 countries.

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When asked what makes a beautiful person, Hodge said, "Men will vote on women based solely on how they look...surprise, surprise. Women look at the bigger overall picture; yes, the men have to be attractive but they also have to write a reasonably articulate profile description, show a little character or sense of humour. A high income also helps as does a picture showing a good lifestyle."

Hodge told the Guardian that he felt badly for the "unfortunate people who were wrongly admitted to the site and believed, albeit for a short time, that they were beautiful."

Would you try and join BeautifulPeople.com? Do you think our society has become too vain?

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