An upcoming Manhattan singles event hopes to make love matches the way nature intended: by pairing the richest dudes with the hottest chicks.

"Society has taught us to not publicly acknowledge the obvious," reads an e-mail announcing "Natural Selection Speed Date," to be held Feb. 7 at Bruno Jamais, an "Ultra Elegant Traditional Supper Club" on the Upper East Side. "Women want money in a man, men want beauty in a woman—this is a factual force of nature...This genetic cleansing is how the wealthy stays [sic] beautiful."

Those who wish to be part of this Darwinian contest must first pass a screening process. Men have to meet a minimum salary requirement (annual income of $200,000 for guys under 25; more if they're older), and women must submit five photos of themselves, to be judged by "celebrity matchmaker" Janis Spindel. Those who pass muster win the right to pony up an entry fee: $500 for guys, $50 for ladies.

What kind of schmuck would pay $500 to meet a bunch of gold-diggers?

The common kind, apparently: Jeremy Abelson, president of Urban Hostess, the Web outfit behind Natural Selection, claims he's already received 300 applications from each gender. "It's just been nuts," he says. "For the women's side, we've gotten a lot of models, but we've also gotten all colors, shapes, and sizes of the rainbow."

Not that those extreme shapes and sizes have much chance of getting in. "We're going to provide a variety, but not in the sense of fat, skinny, ugly, tall," says Abelson. "We're definitely going for the standard beauty profile."

If any of this strikes you as tragic, you're not alone.

"For them to endorse the idea that looks can be paid for—it's literally like being a prostitute," says Hilary Black, editor in chief of relationship mag Tango. "How can they hold up their heads?"

"We've gotten an incredible amount of hate calls, actually," allows Abelson. "Some people have said 'It's sad what you're doing.' But the beautiful thing is we're exposing desires."

Retrograde as the conceit may sound, it's attracting interest from potential partners. New York magazine is listed as a co-sponsor of the event (though a spokeswoman is careful to note it's "an advertising partnership, not an editorial endorsement"), and Abelson claims VH1 may be developing a series around it. "I told them the next thing we're gonna do is a sugar mama speed date," he says. "But I don't think there's as large a population of sugar mamas out there."