The dating website BeautifulPeople.com has kicked off 553 Canadian members following complaints that they had gained weight over the holidays.
The castoffs - among 5,000 worldwide - sealed their own fate by posting new pictures that reportedly showed heftier versions of themselves. Other members voted them out.
"Brutal, isn't it?" said the site's managing director Greg Hodge.
Mr. Hodge said the company began noticing the trend around U.S. Thanksgiving. Christmas and New Year's made the problem get worse.
Most of those expelled came from Canada and the United States, but more than 800 were British. Canadians make up 19,000 of the website's 550,000 members, the company said.
Entry to the site happens after applicants pass a rating process, where members of the opposite sex vote on an applicant's worthiness based on photographs and a brief profile. Members whose conduct - or appearance - is later thrown into question can also be expelled by voting.
Expelled members received an e-mail encouraging them to re-apply when they are back looking their best.
"As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld," site founder Robert Hintze said in a release.
"Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded."
Mr. Hodge, in Toronto this week on a promotional tour of North America, was more diplomatic.
"Certainly big can be beautiful. I guess it's just the way we carry it."
Asked if the company was exaggerating the case to generate publicity, Mr. Hodge said no. "I wish that it was just a publicity grab. For us to lose 5,000 members is tough from a business perspective."