Although Alex was never one of my favourite candidates I think something needs to be pointed out in the interests of fairness.

The whole business with his age never came up until it was mentioned in the interviews by the interviewer(s).

Yes, he subsequently mentioned it but that is hardly surprising since he had been alerted to the fact that he had a lot less experience than most of the other candidates and could easily be 'marked down' because of that.

AS had repeatedly mentioned Michael's age but seemed blissfully unaware that Alex was the youngest candidate.

Alex certainly had some self esteem problems and having it pointed out to him that he was very young and inexperienced would undoubtedly caused him a certain amount of anxiety.

It's a fair cop guv.

Just a minor point: Alex was the youngest finalist. Lindi was the youngest candidate at 22. Nicholas was also younger at 23. Kevin was the same age as Alex.

I agree with the rest of your post.

I agree, although I think that people relished making fun of Alex because of his behaviour, and not because he mentioned his age several times when he was being interviewed. Everybody has fears and insecurities, but that doesn't excuse stabbing people in the back.