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alt title(s): Lena Hyena 
An ugly and/or overweight female (or perhaps just a Hollywood Homely one) is noticeably attracted to a male protagonist. Maybe she's even a little forward about it. The protagonist realizes this, and is profoundly uncomfortable with the whole idea, but the female character either doesn't realize he's not interested or is undeterred. Yet the character is not just uncomfortable: he's shocked, horrified, and disgusted. Even a wave and a smile from her will be treated as a fate worse than death for the recipient; if she flirts or acts coquettish, she's treated as if she had the moral standing of a serial baby rapist. Dubious hilarity ensues.
In some cases, the point of the joke is that the protagonist is too nice to say anything, thus allowing the situation to come up repeatedly. In others, just portraying the protagonist's reaction — which may be closer to mortal terror than awkwardness — is considered enough of a punchline on its own.
Ten years ago, gender reversals were rarely seen. Recently, though, gender reversals are becoming slightly more common, with hygiene-challenged and obsessive nerds ( not a Hollywood Nerd but the visibly obvious kind) hitting on the disinterested and aloof The Chick and receiving a much more blatant "Not a chance in Fire And Brimstone Hell" response. But most of these guys fit the Stalker With A Crush trope, and the overwhelmingly vast majority of Abhorrent Admirers are still female. The main difference is that the straight male Abhorrent Admirer must be unattractive, unclean, *and* socially transgressive (a stalker, a criminal, or a harasser), but the female Abhorrent Admirer only needs to be Hollywood Homely or average.
The Abhorrent Admirer differs from more sympathetic characters in one key respect: the audience is supposed to find her both unattractive and extremely unsympathetic, and is supposed to feel sorry for the protagonist because she has dared to be attracted to him. Abhorrent Admirers exist to be the butt of jokes about their outrageous homeliness and supposedly inappropriate desires for attractive or even merely average people. She shows up, repulsive and horny, and is laughed at by the audience rather than laughed with. By comparison, the Hollywood Nerd has to be abnormally tenacious in order to be a problem, and usually it's an annoying personality that's the issue as much as looks. (Otherwise, they often get a polite " I just don't see you that way" brush-off.) And of course, the nerd gets the girl or boy in the end. Abhorrent Admirers, by contrast, send the objects of their affection running for the hills or, if they somehow manage to score, off to vomit or scrub themselves furiously. This even if the object of affection is in reality less attractive than the Abhorrent Admirer.
The Unfortunate Implication is that unattractive women should be sexually neuter so as not to threaten men. Of course, this Unfortunate Implication is usually ignored.
The original for this trope might be the medieval legend of the "loathly lady", which is the basis of the Wife of Bath's Tale in that thing by Geoffrey Chaucer... making this Older Than Print. Loathly ladies also figure in several Child Ballads.
The most prominent modern example might be Sadie Hawkins, whom few people remember started as a character in Al Capp's Newspaper Comic Li'l Abner. A homely spinster at 35, she had a wealthy father who invented "Sadie Hawkins Day," on which women could propose to men. The character was so popular that the tradition caught on in real life, and outlived the strip character's fame entirely in the form of Sadie Hawkins dances. Capp liked this trope: he also created Lena the Hyena, who was described as "the ugliest woman in Lower Slobbovia" and initially left undepicted. Cartoonist Basil Wolverton famously won a contest to portray Lena.
May or may not overlap with Stalker With A Crush, though that one usually isn't Played For Laughs. Compare Hollywood Nerd, Beauty And The Beast. Contrast Ugly Guy Hot Wife. For versions where only the personality is a problem, see The Baxter and The Leisure Suit Larry. Kavorka Man is an inversion... and generally male. Provides a dubious Aesop in series where Be Yourself is a strong theme.
Sometimes a gay man (attractive or not) can be substituted for the woman, in which case the result tends to put the "phobia" back in "homophobia".
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Examples
Anime and Manga
- The very minor Tezuka anime series Don Dracula had this as a Running Gag. Dracula prefers to subsist on the blood of beautiful women, and somehow never quite manages to grab one onscreen, but a grotesque (and overweight) young woman keeps popping up, determined to offer her neck and other... charms to the foreign nobleman.
- It also sort of shows up in Death Note, though the Hollywood Homely girl goes for L instead of Light like all the other girls.
- The "Sexy Ninja Tea Ladies", the stepfamily of the ninja Konatsu in Ranma ½. Of the three "Sexy Ninja Tea Ladies", the best-looking and most feminine one was modeled after American actor Edward G. Robinson
 ◊.
- In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, there's the "Bowling" chapter, where Longchamp invites Tsuna and Gokudera to go on a three person blind date. Of course, Longchamp's idea of a "cute" girl has always been... unique. So the three girls he invited were absolutely hideous (one of them even being Reborn in an ugly drag). The whole chapter pretty much consists of Tsuna and all of his Bishonen guardians / male friends coming by, being horrified by how ugly these women are, and then trying to run away from them as the women aggressively pursue them.
- In Houshin Engi, Venus, one of Chou Koumei's hideous three sisters, is head over heels in love with Anti Hero protagonist Taikoubou. He literally spit up blood from seeing her strike a "sexy pose." Of course, being the Manipulative Bastard he is, he did fake being slightly friendly towards her just so he could immediately distract her and defeat them. His disgust and horror towards her constant aggressive advances toward him are played for laughs.
Comics
- Ethel Muggs from Archie comics was originally created to facilitate this punchline.
- Something else about Ethel from Archie and this trope is that she was attracted to Jughead, who was notoriously uninterested in anything but food. I don't know if that makes it better or worse in that she would have been unwanted anyway so they figured they could make her unattractive just to underscore it, or if perhaps they deliberately went with an ugly girl — because it's one thing for him to say he's not interested in women (note how no other girl tries to so much as ask him out except under extraordinary circumstances), but if he turns down a hot one routinely he must be gay.
- Subverted in the Live Action Adaptation Return To Riverdale. Set at and around the cast's 15th high school reunion, it reveals the Ethel was actually Beautiful All Along and is now a world-famous supermodel.
- Subverted via the extended introduction of Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man. Peter assumed that anyone his aunt was trying to set him up with must be hideous, and spent years dodging MJ. (The readers were shown earlier on that she was gorgeous, well before her face was finally seen.)
- Some can say Peter hit the jackpot with that one.
- This was the original role of Gravel Gerty in the Dick Tracy comic strip; even grotesque villain the Brow was repulsed by Gertie's affections. She eventually met and married the equally grotesque B.O. Plenty, though B.O. was never used as an Abhorrent Admirer, just as a side villain and then a comic relief hillbilly.
- Shautieh Ley has four chasing after him in Bowling King, Maya (everyone who meets her mistakes her for an alien intially) and the pint-sized, overweight, fanatical, Stalker With A Crush Maruko triplets.
Films
- Films with Wayans brothers in them are very likely to invoke this trope before the credits roll.
- The execrable The Hottie And The Nottie is about this trope - an unattractive woman tries to find a date, unaware that she inhabits a universe where everyone is either a self-obsessed pig, Paris Hilton, or both.
- Virtually every woman in the Deuce Bigalow movies.
- The titular Norbit (played by Eddie Murphy) is chased and lusted after by a grotesquely obese woman who looks like... Eddie Murphy.
- The fat, acne-ridden Eleanor Skepple in Good Luck Chuck.
- Inversion in, of all things, Epic Movie, where a character gets a shapeshifter played by Carmen Electra to transform into an overweight grotesque with a monobrow because he prefers her that way.
- Played straight in Robin Hood: Men in Tights with the witch Latrine.
- The Spleen in the film version of Mystery Men comes off this way in one scene when he attempts to flirt with Janeane Garofalo's character.
- The plump, voracious doorwoman in Mel Gibson's What Women Want. Even her thinking about Mel sexually is enough for him to flee in the opposite direction.
- Doubly Subverted in Brazil when the, ah, orthodonture-gifted young woman Sam's mother wants him to date eventually tells him "I don't fancy you either."
- There's Something About Mary does the male version with Chris Elliot's character, since he erupts into grotesque boils when he finally confronts the titular Mary. However, as befits the usual gendering of this trope, Chris Elliot's character already has an attractive, entirely subservient wife who does things like spontaneously bake him cookies and give him blowjobs while he watches football. ("Keep your head down, honey!").
- Used as a throwaway gag in Johnny Dangerously, when Maureen Stapleton's heavyset, matronly character tells Marilu Henner, "I go both ways." Unusually, this is an unattractive female admirer of another female.
- Ricky Smith, the obese, obnoxious neighbor in Better Off Dead who (with his equally grotesque mother) pursues in hideous fashion the gorgeous French exchange student Monique and with whom the audience is never meant to sympathize. By contrast, Hollywood Nerd Lane Meyer (John Cusack) in the same movie is treated like a loser by most of the characters, but is the hero of the film and gets Monique at the end.
- The film offers a subversion in that Ricky is granted a happy ending as well, meeting a girl who is.. a little more his speed.
- The corrupt, obese principal in Billy Madison overlaps with the Depraved Homosexual for the sake of a single gag during Billy's graduation.
- Used in Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla.
- In the Rudy Ray Moore film Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-in-Law, the title character dies and is given a chance to come back to life by Satan. The catch: he has to marry the Devil's daughter. Who was described by one reviewer as "having fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down". Needless to say, Petey goes out of his way to try to weasel out of his end of the bargain.
- Played with in Shallow Hal, in which the title character has been hypnotized into seeing the "inner beauty" of an obese woman. She's so used to being treated like this that at first she thinks he's mocking her.
- In Friday, Craig's girlfriend hooks Smokey up with a friend of hers who claims to look like Janet Jackson. She doesn't.
- A hilarious scene in The Nutty Professor 2 shows the grandmother lusting after Buddy Love, thinking he's the stripper hired for Denise's bachelorette party. Buddy's reaction when she drops her dress, and panties with it, is priceless.
Jokes
- Once a young man went to visit his pastor. He was very depressed because he was overweight. In particular he felt doomed to never marry, because he was so unattractive due to being overweight. The pastor listened, and then told the young man he would take care of it. The next morning, the young man awoke to a knock on the door. There was this gorgeous single woman from the congregation. She said: "I don't know what this means, but the pastor told me to tell you that if you can catch me you can keep me," and then took off running. The young man ran after her, but could not catch her. This happened every morning for several months. The young man came closer and closer each day. Boy was he motivated. Then the day came, he knew he would catch her today. But when the knock came at his door, there was Lena Hyena. "I don't know what this means," she said, "but the pastor said that if I can catch you, I get to keep you." Immediately the young man began running. Boy was he motivated.
Literature
- The aging, overweight Hepzibah Smith is this to Tom Riddle, future Big Bad, in a flashback in the sixth Harry Potter book. Tom plays up to this by flirting with her just enough to stay in her good graces until he can get what he wants. Then he poisons her. (Note that this pairing is a legitimate 'ship — H.M.S. Antique Lover)
Live Action TV
- In the Seinfeld episode "The Strike" (aka The One With Festivus), Elaine gains the attentions of three repulsive males: Kevin McDonald's denim-vest-wearing character and two sleazoids from an OTB parlor. (Elaine herself briefly becomes one too thanks to a hairdo-ruining steam bath, and Jerry is dating a woman who flips from ugly to pretty depending on the lighting.)
- An episode of Malcolm In The Middle had the boys getting a hawt babysitter who had been a girl like this to Francis before he went to military school and back when she was overweight. Francis hadn't wanted to hurt her feelings, but towards the end of the episode, told her over the phone that he didn't find her attractive at all (Not knowing that she had lost a considerable amount of weight and had gained the aforementioned hawtness). It made him sound gay.
- Mrs. Carruthers was like this to Joey in Full House as a Running Gag.
- Kimmy Gibler was like this towards several of the men on the show as well.
- Married With Children was fond of the "mortal terror" angle. Bud in particular was often an Abhorrent Admirer's victim as a Running Gag of sorts.
- This trope made up the entirety of the recurring "Wanda Wayne" and "Vera de Milo" sketches on In Living Color.
- The IT Crowd also did this, although I can't remember the specifics.
- One episode of The Jamie Foxx Show had Jamie the victim of an Abhorrent Admirer named DAMN!!!
- Jamie Foxx is no stranger to this trope. He played this character himself, Ugly Wanda, when he was on In Living Color. The episode might have been a Shout Out to that.
- Honoriah Glossop of Jeeves And Wooster. Not particularly good-looking, but more importantly, large and violent. Not exactly well-suited to Bertie.
- Family Matters has a male example in (Who else?) Steve Urkel, who's undying devotion to Laura is not received well at all. But that has just as much (Or more) to do with his outrageously weird personality than the way he looks.
- On Friends, Chandler was repeatedly plagued by the unwanted advances of Janice, who (while not unattractive) sported a gaudy wardrobe, a loud and nasal voice, and an ugly, honkering laugh.
- Not entirely unwanted, as he did have some feelings for her. The two were actually in a seemingly stable relationship for a few episodes before she went back to her husband.
Theatre
Video Games
Western Animation
- The Kanker Sisters in Ed Eddn Eddy.
- Mr. Barkin in Kim Possible spends one episode being (clumsily) hit upon by an unattractive woman and reacts with outraged disgust (admittedly, Mr Barkin reacts with outraged disgust to almost everything, but still...). And the woman in question later turns out to be the villain of the week.
- It may have been less about her being unattractive and more about her annoying, over-cutesy personality.
- It's personality. She returns and does the same thing to another of the male villains.
- Disney's Aladdin has one of these (after he encountered attractive female admirers) during his song "One Jump Ahead", the one whose line is "Still I think he's rather tasty!"
- In The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, there is a gag involving a short, fat woman (Tilda) who wants to dance with either Ichabod or Brom Bones at the Halloween party. The underlying implication is that whichever of them fails to win the lovely Katrina van Tassel will be stuck with Tilda.
- Tex Avery's cartoon The Chump Champ has Droopy and Spike competing for the title of "King of Sports", with the prize being a kiss from the "Queen of Sports". After Spike cheats his way to victory, he goes to kiss the Queen, who appears to be a knockout...until her face is revealed. She chases the horrified Spike into the distance, as Droopy informs the audience that "cheaters never win".
- Tex Avery was fond of this trope. In Red Hot Riding Hood, Red's grandmother is very forward in trying to catch the Wolf, who reacts with utter panic. Pretty much the same thing happens with the fairy godmother in Swing Shift Cinderella.
- Mama Bear turns into one of these at the end of Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears.
- Arguably, the single greatest Abhorrent Admirer in the history of animation is Pepé Le Pew of Looney Tunes fame. Not because of his looks because he is very handsome for a skunk (it seems the cartoon cats with the accidental white stripes seem to dig his groove after they have been rendered stinky or he had been rendered unstinky) but because of his unique, flower-wilting scent.
Real Life
- Definitely exists in Real Life, as This Troper has had the "pleasure" of serving with a fellow soldier who would cheerfully bend one's ear to the idea that his fat comrade was disgusting when she attempted to flirt and should just accept that no one would ever be attracted to her. Of course, she had a boyfriend, but that didn't really enter into his calculations. So Yeah.
- This Troper had less-than-pleasant working experiences with a less-than-attractive female co-worker who would not take "gay" for an answer. It got less funny for This Troper's other co-workers when it started shifting into the Stalker With A Crush territory.
Webcomics
- Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic features an interesting take on Abhorrent Admirer in one story arc-it revolves around a queen with a trio of daughters who is making arrangements with another king to have his son marry one of her daughters to cement an alliance, with intent to betray him later and become absolute ruler of both kingdoms. The prince in question, however, is in every possible way disinterested. Not because the daughters are necessarily ugly, but because they're gnolls, and he's just plain not interested in an interspecies relationship (by gnoll standards they're actually pretty hot catches). Two of the daughters are incredibly forward and eager; it's never shown onscreen but when the middle daughter tries to actually use sex to win him over, it's implied he reacts badly. When he succumbs to the fact that he's not going to get out of this, he chooses the third daughter, who's surly and completely unwilling. When his father asks why he chose her over her cheerful, willing sisters, he points out that if he has to marry one of them he might as well choose the one he agrees with.
Web Original
- Another unconventional example is Sam Bak Za's "There She Is", a story in five "steps" about a relationship between Doki, a rabbit, and Nabi, a cat. In their society, friendly intermingling of felis and lepus is perfectly fine, but a romance between the two is afforded about the same respect as one between a white man and a black woman circa the American Civil War. In the first step, Nabi flees Doki's attentions more because of social norms than actual disinterest (although Doki's enthusiasm probably intimidates Nabi a bit, as well). The rest of the shorts are more about Doki and Nabi's attempts to cope with society's opinion of their relationship.
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