A dating website that only allows "beautiful" members has had to apologise to tens of thousands of "ugly" people who were accepted by mistake.
The website has over 700,000 members
Last month the screening process was sabotaged by a Shrek virus, meaning anyone was allowed to join, regardless of their looks.
The site's owners have now issued an apology to the 30,000 "unfortunate" people who were "wrongly admitted" to the site.
They have subsequently been banished.
"We have sincere regret for the unfortunate people who were wrongly admitted to the site and who believed, albeit for a short while, that they were beautiful," managing director Greg Hodge said.
"It must be a bitter pill to swallow, but better to have had a slice of heaven then never to have tasted it at all."
BeautifulPeople.com usually requires those looking for love to pass a strict "rating" stage where existing users vote on whether someone is attractive enough to be accepted.
"We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period, many of whom were no oil painting," Mr Hodge added.
"We responded immediately, repairing the damage from the Shrek virus and putting every new member back into the rating module for a legitimate and democratic vote.
"The result is that we have lost over 30,000 recent members."
The Shrek virus is being investigated
A hotline has been set up to help rejected applicants come to terms with the news.It is not known how the Shrek virus started but it is believed a former employee may be responsible.
BeautifulPeople.com has more than 700,000 members worldwide.
On average one in seven applicants is accepted - around 5.5 million have not made the cut so far.
The majority of successful new members come from the USA, Denmark and France, it claims.
The UK is among the countries with the highest rate of rejections, alongside Russia and Poland.
The site has previously launched a virtual sperm and egg bank for people who want to ensure their offspring are blessed with good looks.