Camp/cameramen points are well taken, thoughtful, and reasonable.

But how could they stop any survivor that decided to go rogue? The very concept means that they wouldn’t be asking permission, therefore the production personnel wouldn't always be in a position to prevent them from doing anything, especially something that involves game strategy and doesn't harm anyone.

If there's a way to get an edge thru boldness or deception, eventually someone will try for it, as evidenced by the attempts to make fake idols. If fact, after it's tried once, the copycats will appear each seacon after that.

If they can go crazy and dump camp rice with no objection from the powers that be, or go thru someone else's belongings without permission, then simply sneaking out whenever the camera crew is distracted shouldn't be out of the question. Again, what would be the penalty?

Put yourself in camp, with others puttering around, and you want to search for an HI. You don't want to tell the camera crew what you're up to in front of the others. Kinda kills the whole purpose, because even if you make up an excuse like firewood, coconuts, or water, everyone will know what you're doing.

And if going to the latrine is the only acceptable excuse to leave camp without a crew tagging along, why wouldn't they just say they are going to poop and instead look for an HI? If someone can find it by accident, someone else could use the excuse to actively hunt it. As for re-enacting the find, that's only possible if the HI finder tells the camera crew that he found it. Even then, the re-enactment would reveal what happened to the rest of the gang, and they wouldn't need to overhear a confessional. If there was a rule that any HI's found without the camera crew around would have to be refilmed, I certainly wouldn't tell production if I found one surreptitiously. Not until I used it at TC.

So I’m still skeptical. Not saying it’s impossible, and the points you make are worth pondering, but so far it doesn’t pass the sniff test for me.