Desperate applicants to the elite dating website BeautifulPeople.com have apparently been undergoing plastic surgery in a bid to get onto the site.
The website, which has rejected 7.5 million applicants since it first launched in 2002, has a 48-hour voting period for new members during which existing members of the opposite sex decide whether they are attractive enough to join.
The site's directors claim that one in four rejected applicants is toning up at the gym, having an "extreme makeover" or even going under the knife before reapplying.
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One anonymous British user of the site had a nose job earlier this year and lost weight they gained at university. "It hasn't been easy – my brother hasn't spoken to me since I had the rhinoplasty – but I've never felt better," they said.
Greg Hodge, managing director of the website, tells the Daily Mail: "Sometimes it's just down to straightening your teeth, curbing your appetite, grooming yourself with a little more care and getting down to the gym."
He insisted that the site was not a "heartless, lookist dating community that exists to alienate the aesthetically disadvantaged". But there is no doubt BeautifulPeople.com has sparked controversy over the years...
Festive fatties kicked off site
In January 2010, the website forced more than 5,000 users to reapply after they posted photographs of themselves looking chubbier than normal after Christmas. Existing members were asked to decide if they were still beautiful enough to be part of the website and only a few hundred were allowed back in. The website said it was simply responding to complaints from its customers. "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," said founder Robert Hintze. "Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded."
Adopt an ugly person
Beautiful People has a philanthropic streak too. Earlier this year it created a mentoring programme called "Adopt an Ugly Person". Hodge said it "hurt" him to see people rejected as he sees "dollar signs just walking out the door". As part of the new programme, existing members volunteers to coach applicants on how to be more beautiful. "We've democratised beauty," declared Hodge.
Beautiful People sidelines
The website has dabbled in several sideline businesses, from employment to making babies. Earlier this year it decided to launch a sideline recruitment site because "attractive people tend to make a better first impression on clients, win more business and earn more". In 2010 it announced the launch of its virtual sperm and egg bank, which enabled members and non-members to procreate. "Initially, we hesitated to widen the offering to non-beautiful people," said founder Hintze. "But everyone – including ugly people – would like to bring good looking children into the world, and we can't be selfish with our attractive gene pool."
Mass member boot after Shrek virus
In June 2011 a virus infected the software used to screen potential Beautiful People members, allowing 30,000 "not so beautiful" people onto the site. The management were quick to act and unceremoniously booted them off the site – although kindly set up a helpline complete with counsellors for those distressed by the rejection. The virus, nicknamed Shrek after the animated "beauty is on the inside" film, was believed to have been planted by a disgruntled member of staff.
