Kiwi blokes are among the world's most attractive, but New Zealand women are struggling in the good-looks competition, according to a website that lets only beautiful people sign up.
Members of beautifulpeople.com rate applicants to the site on how good looking they are, then decide whether they're pretty enough to
join.
More than 4900 Kiwis have applied to join the site but only 1274 have been accepted - 33 per cent of men and just 17 per cent of women. The rest are apparently too ugly.
That places New Zealand blokes as the sixth most attractive nationality, but Kiwi women don't make it to the top 10.
The hotties in Scandinavia proved to be the world's most beautiful, with 65 per cent of Swedish men accepted and 76 per cent of Norwegian women.
Kiwi men rated higher than Aussie blokes but more Australian women were accepted than New Zealand sheilas, despite New Zealand producing acknowledged beauties such as top models Kylie Bax and Rachel Hunter (left). New Zealand's Next Top Model judge Colin Mathura-Jeffree, a former model, disagrees with the website's findings and says Kiwi women "far exceed" men in the attractiveness stakes.
Despite this, Mathura-Jeffree believes the Kiwi lifestyle makes men look classically attractive, while not doing the same for women.
"The sports that are pushed forward here often give females a more masculine physique, which for some people isn't what they hold up as attractive."
Those same sports, however, give men a look that is considered appealing - All Black pin-up Dan Carter springs to mind.
Mathura-Jeffree picks Lucy Lawless as a perfect example of Kiwi beauty.
"She is stunning, and far more beautiful in person," he says.
As for blokes, Mathura-Jeffree says, "I can't get over my own reflection."
Fashion designer Denise L'Estrange-Corbet thinks it's nonsense that New Zealand women are less attractive than their overseas counterparts.
She thought the idea of people rating each other's attractiveness was a sign they'd "gone nuts".
"I can't believe people are stupid enough to do that."
