Existing members decide whether applicants are beautiful enough to join the online dating website BeautifulPeople.com. (IStockphoto)

A Danish online dating website has expelled 5,000 members, including 500 Canadians, because they no longer met the site's beauty standards.

Greg Hodge, managing director of BeautifulPeople.com told news sources they booted the "festive fatties" off the site after they posted photos of themselves during the holidays showing they had "let themselves go."

According to the site, "Vigilant members, who take pride in the standards demanded by the site, called for action."

Most of the 5,000 who got the boot were from the U.S., but they've been told they can rejoin if they get back in shape.

The website, which is active in 16 countries, says it's the first of its kind, wielding a sort of survival of the fittest to decide who becomes a member and who doesn't.

Prospective members must go through a 48-hour voting process, during which time existing members of the opposite sex decide whether they are "beautiful."

BeautifulPeople.com says it "does not define beauty, it simply gives an accurate representation of what society's ideal of beauty is."

The website takes a brash approach even to those not necessarily interested in becoming a member.

"Too ugly to sign up? Click here to browse BeautifulPeople as [a] guest," says a larger banner on the site.

The website claims it was founded on "one very simple principle of human nature — the fact that people want to be with someone they are attracted to. It may not be politically correct to say so … but it is honest."

Thanks to their forthright methods, BeautifulPeople says applicants that survive the process will have access to "the most attractive people locally and from around the globe."

With files from The Canadian Press