HUIXIAN

Not enough beautiful singles on Net, so he sets up own website

THEY may be looking for love, but if they're not hot enough, you won't find them on MrJason Pellegrino's Internet dating service.

HotEnough.org is exclusively for 'fit, good-looking' people.

Prospective members must submit pictures and must be rated an 8 or higher by people already in the club. Once they are in, they can e-mail other 'hotties' for US$9.95 ($15) a month.


Mr Pellegrino, 33, who is rated an 8.2, said he and business partner Sean Cohen created the site after concluding that Internet dating sites did not attract a lot of attractive people.

Of his service, he said: 'It's definitely hard to get through that rope, but once you're in, you're in and you're part of the party.

'But you know there's going to be a lot of people outside waiting.'

A few months after its launch, membership is just under 1,000, he said. At first, only 8 per cent of those who applied made the grade, but now about 25 per cent of applicants do.

SHALLOW

'People can say that the site is shallow, they can say it's superficial, but I think we're all a bit superficial when it comes to dating,' MrPellegrino said.

One 'hottie' accepted into the club is MrJimmy Ziomek, 29, who rated an 8.2.

Mr Ziomek, who said his real estate job keeps him from going out much, goes to the gym four to five times a week.

Using HotEnough.org 'saves time and it does the searching for you, narrows it down to the people that you are interested in meeting', he said.

Ms Jeanette Ponder, a 28-year-old Internet blogger, didn't make the cut, although she considered herself an 8or9.

She said she applied because she thought it would make a good story.

'I got rated at like 5.7,' she said. 'When you put yourself out there in any situation, even if it's one which you're not taking seriously, it's going to sting.'

Like it or not, the website operates on a principle that watchers of the singles scene have long recognised.

'People tend to end up with partners who match them in physical attractiveness,' said Yale University psychology lecturer Margaret Clark.

Mr Pellegrino, a project manager in a construction company, was happy to make it onto his own website.

'I see myself more in like the 7.5 range,' he said.