Beautiful people site hit by 'Shrek' virus

A social networking site for beautiful people has been hit by a 'Shrek' virus which allowed 30,000 'ugly' applicants to join.

Members of BeautifulPeople.com must traditionally pass a strict "rating" stage where existing users vote on whether someone is attractive enough to be accepted.

But this screening process was brought down last month, allowing anyone to join, regardless of their looks, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Owners have now apologised to more than 30,000 "unfortunate" people who were "wrongly admitted" to the site and subsequently banished.

"We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period, many of whom were no oil painting," said managing director Greg Hodge.

"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.

"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.

"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."

The origin of the ''Shrek'' virus is still being investigated internally but it is believed a former employee may have been responsible.

BeautifulPeople.com has more than 700,000 members worldwide. On average one in seven applicants is accepted.