MasterChef

One of my fondest memories of my childhood is racing home from school and turning on the BBC Masterchef Goes Large (I'd always miss the first couple of minutes), turning the volume to max and quickly making myself a big bowl of steaming, spicy instant noodles with an egg buried in the soup, and watching Masterchef with my ramen perched on a tea-towel covered pillow on my lap. These were the times when I had the house all to myself for about an hour, watching what I like eating what I cooked.

After that season of MasterChef Goes Large they stopped airing the British show, and replaced it with an Australian version. I didn't like the look of the adverts, because it looked far too commercialized - far too much like Biggest Loser of Big Brother. They had taken my favourite simple, homey, British TV show and completely wrecked it.

I have watched the second season of MasterChef Australia, which is currently airing, from the top seven onwards - which really isn't much of it, by the way. The grand finale is this Sunday. Apparently they've made some changes, and I think its obvious - the adverts are no longer offensive anymore, and I actually quite like the show. There's more emphasis on cooking rather than the hocus pocus that is most of Australian prime time telly.

So I went on the website of MasterChef Australia today, just checking it out, when a little window popped up and asked me if I wanted to take part in an anonymous survey. So I clicked on it, and I was about 90% through it when it asked what year I was born. I clicked on the 'before 1995' option. The survey immediately informed me that they could not accept my survey as I was under fourteen, but thanks for being interested anyway bye.

Gee, that's nice. For one thing, I am not under fourteen, I am fourteen. I am legally allowed to get a part-time job. In just over five months, I will be fifteen. So, basically, I'm closer to fifteen than fourteen.

Besides, this can hardly be a privacy issue. I didn't have to disclose my name, or my address, not even my state or email address. It quite clearly is the shocking fact that in this day and age, the voice of the youth is shockingly undervalued.

I know this sounds petty, but it is annoying. I have to lie about my age to log on to many sites I set up accounts on. It's so unfair, that I am underestimated and undervalued just because I'm fourteen, as opposed to 140. I mean, the voice of the young people is not as inexperienced and narrow as you might think. It's like being a gardener and only picking the tough, wilting plants instead of the fresh young ones. I'm not saying you should rely on a baby for stock advice, but just take us a little more seriously. Please.