Ignoring the first emotional reaction... what's actually gross about it. Sure, I wouldn't want the whole society to be based on a mail order bride model, and the whole thing sounds like Breakfast at Tiffany's, but wrong/gross? I don't think so. There was only one actually wrong part that was mentioned as far as I can tell (inappropriate touching) which was dealt with. (was just ignoring it enough? I'll leave that to the author)

As long as the participants knew what they were getting into, I think it was fine - everyone got what they signed up for, no promises of results were given. (as far as I understand from the article)