A contest staged by a married Chinese man, to winnow his five mistresses down to one after the global recession left him unable to financially support them, ended in a loss to all involved.

An entrepreneur businessman from Qingdao man identified only as Fan, reportedly had five mistresses who he paid $733 a month plus a free apartment. When business turned bad, Fan could no longer afford the five mistresses and decided to stage a contest to winnow his harem down to one.

However, one of the women who was eliminated, identified only as a former waitress named Yu, was jealously enraged.

Yu, 29, reportedly drove Fan and her four rivals off a cliff in December. Yu alone was killed and the story surfaced in local Chinese media after Yu's parents found a letter detailing everything.

Fan gave Yu's parents a cash settlement, and his wife and lovers all left him.