What exactly does "on some level, the candidates know that it's all fake" mean? Intuition? Instinct? If I'm going to forsake my responsibilities, I very much better have a solid reason for doing so, and "my gut told me to" does not satisfy that requirement. My gut is quite competent at digestion, but I would not trust it to resolve a dilemma (to the extent that this could be considered a dilemma at all).