With the collegians of Magna having lost two episodes of “The Apprentice” in a row, the high school grads of NetWorth felt plenty confident going into episode four. But last week’s task was so difficult that it truly leveled the playing field.

Both teams were asked to take on a very tough assignment: make a 30-second television commercial for a new product – in this case, Dove Cool Moisture Body Wash. And for the first time in three seasons of Donald Trump’s Apprentice search, both teams were horrible. In fact, adman Donald Deutsch, who judged this advertising contest, pronounced both teams losers. No winner, no reward – just the board room for all.

Since both teams created, produced, and directed equally bad media spots, the leadership of the two teams was put at stake. Erin, Magna’s project manager, kept her team together, while Net-Worth’s Kristen, who insisted her boyfriend’s job as a director qualified her, spawned division, confusion, and a couple of cat fights.

In the end, since both commercials were awful, The Donald had to fire based on lack of leadership. That dishonor appropriately went to Kristen, to whom The Donald handed a resounding Trump-A-Dump.

Episode Four Turning Points

With the assignment being a 30-second mini-movie highlighting the refreshing features of Dove’s new product, both teams came up with vastly different approaches.

NetWorth’s concept – fathered by John – was to go with a conservative brand of humor by showing a marathon runner refreshing himself in mid-race using Dove Body Wash (rather than water) and making it to the finish line.

Magna went risque, producing a semi erotic scene with restaurant chefs giving a cucumber a Dove Body Wash while eyeing each other and ending with two men arm in arm. As flat and dark as these concepts were, it was the behind-the-camera performances that really told the story.

NetWorth’s Kristen clearly preferred to work alone. She sent John, who conceived the potentially funny marathoner scene, off to put together a music track. She failed to communicate at all with teammates Audrey and Tana, who then communicated poorly with the actors.

Then, to highlight her utter lack of leadership, Kristen ignored her team’s original idea – the ad was supposed to be funny. It wasn’t.

Magna’s Erin had her share of management mix-ups. She left her actors freezing outside a locked studio for nearly two hours. Teammate Bren was able to keep a very upset – and cold – actress from leaving the set. She also miscalculated by dressing her team up as chefs when making their presentation.

So offended, Mr. Deutsch let them know their attire lacked seriousness and requested they remove the flopping chef hats before beginning.

Because Mr. Deutsch declared both teams losers for their horrifying ads, Mr. Trump made both team leaders pick two to come to the board room. Erin picked Bren (the cucumber idea was his) and Michael. Kristen picked Audrey and Tana.

In the board room, Erin defended her leadership with vigor, saying her team was a family. Kristen, in stark contrast, scratched and clawed it out with Tana and Audrey. Mr. Trump’s decision to fire Kristen was made easier by the fact that even Audrey preferred firing Kristen over firing a member of the opposite team.

Lessons Learned

LESSON ONE Even when the task fails, good leaders survive. Erin’s ad was miserable, but because her team stuck with her, she lived to fight another day. Their poor concept was not the result of poor leadership or poor teamwork, but rather poor study of the product. Kristen’s toxic relationship with her entire squad made her embarrassingly bad commercial unforgivable.

LESSON TWO If you are going to sell with humor, you had better make sure your customer laughs. Kristen’s biggest goof was developing half a concept. The marathon idea was meaningless without the comedy. Her imagination shut down when it came to creating a commercial that actually turned off the customer rather than entice them to buy. As a result, Kristen got sent from the suite to the street.

LESSON THREE You can’t sell your product unless you know your product. The Deutsch team was horrified that neither 30-second commercial defined the product or created a scenario that would generate interest to the established mass audience of Dove consumers. Good or bad, the efforts of the commercials were worthless without the team’s effort to study the product and why it is a “must-buy” for everyone watching.

With 13 Apprentices left for next week’s contest, team Magna is now still down one player to NetWorth. But now that NetWorth has rid itself of Kristen, its most antisocial member, it has a good chance to regain its winning streak.

Stay tuned.

Mr. Whitehead is an author and consultant specializing in workstyles and careers. Send him questions or comments at trumponomics@aol.com.