Welcome to the RTVW boards, cherlynn.Azmyth is no favorite of mine (though I play him quite well in teh Be the PirateMaster game). But I fail to see how he "cheated his way to the top".
Yes, he and the "triad" are doing something borderline immoral in trying to tire out JD and Louie before the challenge. But they didn't do that until this episode and had won several challenges.
I seriously doubt that they are under the illusion that the crew loves them. But Azmyth in particular done and said some astonishingly dumb things (like tabbing JD as a fearsome threat instead of trying to paint him as a hated former captain at the Pirates' court and putting his foot in his mouth with his "sides" comment). So you MIGHT be right. If they really are that dumb, they won't be in the chair of power long, whether there is a ghost tribe or not.
Judging from how many of them have freaky hair, makeup and facial hair, I would guess that those hairstyles were either provided or encouraged by the production crew to make them look more interesting.
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