"It is a necessary evil in order to maintain the beautiful community": Dating site for beautiful people ousts 3,000 members for weight gain

When members gain weight or gracelessly age, the husband-and-wife duo running the website sees them out

Published March 6, 2015 9:23PM (EST)

 (Beautiful People)
(Beautiful People)

BeautifulPeople.com, the elitist dating website that aims to connect only the genetic cream of the crop with matches, is under scrutiny today after ousting 3,000 members it deemed had "let themselves go," according to N.Y. Daily News 

This isn't the first time the crazed husband-and-wife duo behind the website, Genevieve and Greg Hodge, have laid down the law in such a way. During Christmas of 2010, 5,000 members who had packed on some holiday weight from Thanksgiving were sent packing their bags after uploading new photos to the website that weren't up to snuff. The site's founder, Robert Hintze, said in a statement that year, "Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model."

Oh, but if it's any consolation: BeautifulPeople.com's co-owner Genevieve Hodge said in a statement following the recent purge that she gets no satisfaction out of kicking these people to the curb -- it just has to be done! “This may sound harsh, and it is the most difficult part of managing the business,” she said. “We take no pleasure in removing members, but it is a necessary evil in order to maintain the beautiful community and our prized business model.”

According to Greg Hodge, the two main reasons for removing members was weight gain and “graceless aging.”

To curious onlookers this community might seem like an absolute joke -- but it's certainly not one to L.A.-based actress Tawmie Lynn, who underwent plastic surgery after being kicked out of the exclusive community the first time. Following the procedure she was accepted back in, and has become somewhat of a loyal banner-holder for the website.

She told the Daily Mail: "If the management failed to maintain the quality of the site by polluting the gene pool, most members would leave. It would make Beautiful People just like every other dating site  -- full of the kind of people you wouldn't want to share an elevator with, let alone date."


By Colin Gorenstein

Colin Gorenstein is Salon's assistant editor of internet and viral content. Follow @colingorenstein or email cgorenstein@salon.com.

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