The 4 new reviews appear to have been generated by the article and I suspect 2 or 3 of them will eventually be hidden. And rightfully so since they are content-free and by new reviewers.
A friend of mine committed himself to get Elite status one year. He did it too, by writing hundreds of reviews. Though he tried making most of them pretty funny, he eventually switched to a strategy that emphasized quantity over quality, because he didn't feel he was getting there with just high-quality reviews. Surprisingly, this seemed to work, though perhaps his multitude of reviews were genuinely useful enough.
He didn't get paid for any of this either. It was just for the parties, grand openings, and extra-special treatment at restaurants.
I don't have any way of verifying these accounts, but I see a couple of stories about Yelp paying (non-Elite) reviewers to write reviews:
I recall reading somewhere that when Yelp started, they seeded their database with paid reviews as well, to surmount that chicken-and-egg problem of new social networks & review services. I wouldn't consider that a negative mark against them though.
They don't get paid. I've been Elite for about 3 years now. But they do get invited to Elite only parties which they get to sample free food and drinks.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/haus-von-brader-dog-obedience-traini...
Justin G, the negative reviewer, was a Yelp Elite member from 2006-2008:
http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=z25c9TyWY1TdVEGxkj34...