[music playing]

Narrator: Peter is a 37-year-old politics lecturer.

Peter: Monetarism. That's good. How does that work?

Narrator: Married in his '20s, he's now divorced and has been single for two years.

Man: What do you think women think of you?

Peter: The most repeated thing that women say about me is that I'm a really nice guy, but actually that's usually fatal when women say that.

Man: How do you rate yourself physically?

Peter: Physically, I'm short, skinny, mingin.

Man: What's mingin?

Peter: What's mingin? That'd be the technical word for not very good looking.

Narrator: Peter thinks it's his physical appearance that's the problem, but what can he do to improve it?

Man: Hello, can I borrow you for a moment? Thank you. I just want to get an impression of this guy here. This is Peter, OK?

Narrator: Before he's introduced to anyone, the scientists are going to identify precisely what is turning women off.

Man: What I need from you is your immediate impressions, OK? So what age do you think he is?

Woman: About 40.

Man: 40. And what do you think he does? If you had just met him in the street, what would you say he did?

Woman: I don't know. Maybe he works in a shop.

Man: And a scale of 1-10 of attractiveness, if 10 is very sexy and 0 is not at all.

Woman: For me personally, zero.

Man: Zero, right.

Narrator: Peter can't hear what the women are saying until the results are played back to him.

Man: What age?

Woman: Maybe 46?

Peter: Oh my god.

Man: 46. What sort of job do you think he does?

Woman: Maybe a window cleaner.

Man: On a scale of 0-10 where 10 is really, really sexy, where would you put him?

Woman: Minus one.

Peter: Minus one.

[laughing]

Man: Would you go on a date with him?

Woman: No.

Man: Would you go on a date with him?

Woman: I've got a boyfriend, so no. But if I didn't, no.

Man: No, sorry.

[laughing]

Narrator: What's emerged from the experiment is that Peter is perceived to have a low status job and income— where most scientific studies suggest women are attracted to men who could provide resources.

[music playing]

The next day, a fashion stylist gives Peter a more affluent look.

Stylish: Good luck.

Peter: Very anxious. That was a terrifying experience, so I'm not sure what to expect.

Man: Right. Was it more terrifying than yesterday?

Peter: Much more terrifying, because I knew this time what was coming. And yesterday's feedback was so negative. I was terrified this morning that that was going to happen again.

Narrator: In spite of the scientific research, many women claim that money isn't one of their priorities.

Woman: I am looking for somebody who's not too bothered by his status in society— not money driven— not money driven.

Woman: More of a tree hugger than a Porsche driver.

Woman: Someone that's not into cars— expensive cars— football or money.

Narrator: So will Peter's new look actually make any difference?

Man: What do you think he does for work?

Woman: Businessman.

Man: Businessman.

Woman: Management or something.

Peter: Oh, that's good.

Man: Authority.

Woman: Professional.

Man: OK. How much do you think he earns?

Woman: Oh, I think he's earning quite a lot.

Woman: Quite a bit.

Man: Have a guess.

Woman: 40,000 plus.

Man: And on a scale of 0-10, how attractive do you think he is? Be honest.

Woman: Four.

Man: Four. You give him a four, OK.

Peter: That's five up on yesterday.

Man: Yeah.

What do you like about him? You gave him a six, which is a pretty good score. What—

Woman: Overall package is good.

Peter: Oh, I like that one. Package.

Woman: Quite sexy looking.

Man: Yeah. Sexy looking. Good.

Woman: You behave.

Man: Would you go out on a date with him if he asked you to go out?

Woman: I think maybe, yeah.

Man: Would you consider it?

Woman: Depends where he's going to take me.

Man: Right, OK. Good answer.

Stylist: Fabulous.

Peter: Well, that's a huge, huge difference from yesterday.

Man: I've quantified some of the numbers here, and it's very, very interesting. In terms of your job, they upgraded you considerably, and that's reflected also in your income. Yesterday, the figure that most people typically came up with was 30,000. Today, it was 40,000. So you have gone up by 10,000.

Peter: Wow.

Man: And a big difference was how attractive they found you. Your average score yesterday was in fact 3.4. Today, you have gone up to 5.8.

Peter: Yay.

Stylist: Well done.