A popular dating site has shed some 5,000 former "beauties" from around the world for putting on weight and losing their looks over the holiday season.

'BeautifulPeople.com', with a strict ban on ugly people, has said that it took the drastic measures after many members posted photos of themselves celebrating Christmas and New Year, revealing that they have let themselves go.

Even other vigilant members, who take pride in the standards demanded by the site, called for action, following which the portal decided to expel the fatties. Greg Hodge, the portal's Managing Director, said, "We responded to complaints by moving the newly chubby members back to the rating stage." This is the same as having them re- apply. Their reapplications were reviewed by existing members and only a few hundred were voted back in. Over 5,000 were rejected.

"The countries where most overweight people were expelled from are the US, Britain, Canada, Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Denmark and Turkey," a release said. Hodge explained, "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. The US 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. In the UK and Canada, Christmas and the New Year are all about over-eating, over-drinking and watching TV on the sofa."