The Dalai Lama has reiterated his desire that if a woman succeeds him, she better be good looking.

“If [a] female Dalai Lama comes, then she should be more attractive,” the 83-year-old spiritual guru told BBC News in a wide-ranging interview that aired Wednesday.

BBC reporter Rajini Vaidyanathan pressed him on his original comments from 2015, in which he said that his female successor “must be attractive, otherwise it is not much use.”

“If [a] female Dalai Lama comes, then she should be more attractive. If [a] female Dalai Lama — ” he told Vaidyanathan, while scrunching his face up, “then people I think prefer not [to] see that face.”

Vaidyanathan asked whether he understood why his remarks sparked outrage.

“There’s an opportunity to ask whether they spent some money for makeup,” he replied. “I think they must do something.”