"It's a tried and true method, so we went with what works." Despite the swipe model, there are several differences.

First, you can only like a few people a day, unless you invite friends to join the app, an obvious attempt at getting more users.

The international site Beautiful threw out members after they posted photos "revealing that they have let themselves go," according to a company statement.

"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," said Robert Hintze, founder of Beautiful

(CNN) -- A dating site that markets itself as an elite community for beautiful people with a "strict ban on ugly people" has axed about 5,000 members for packing on the pounds during the holiday season.

So Beautiful sent those flagged members e-mails, according to the company statement, telling them they could register again for the site when the extra pudge was gone.

"We responded to complaints by moving the newly chubby members back to the rating stage.

"Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which Beautiful was founded." The site describes itself as an "elite online club, where every member works the door" -- that is, users can join only after enough members vote them "beautiful" during the 48 hours after their profile is uploaded.

And apparently, enough beautiful people were angry that some members had enjoyed a bit too many treats during the holiday season.