New York ? “Even the juggling was pathetic.” With that cutting blow, Simon Cowell ended Jason Anderson’s moment in the spotlight. Anderson, 16, stormed out of his “American Idol” audition into his family’s arms, obscenities flowing as freely as the tears.

High school can be vicious enough. But not as nasty as Cowell, who also told the would-be singer/juggler that he “summed up Minneapolis, mate – useless.”

The “American Idol” juggernaut has become ever more popular in this, its sixth season. But it sure seems meaner, too. At least that’s the talk this week as the judges – not just the acerbic Cowell, but the usually genial Randy Jackson and the kind but loopy Paula Abdul – up the torture quotient, taking train-wreck TV viewing to a whole new level.

Insinuations, side swipes

“American Idol” returned with a storm this week, with episodes on Tuesday and Wednesday attracting around 37 million viewers. The episodes featured auditions by the good, the bad and the awful from Minneapolis and Seattle.

No category of contestant was spared in the audition coverage. The judges have even taken swipes at contestants behind their backs, making snide remarks after the singers have left. “Obnoxious,” Cowell sniffed of one who’d just been voted into the next round. “What a strange guy,” Jackson said of another.

And if you argue the contestants are asking for it by deciding to appear, consider the supportive boss of Dayna Dooley, who flew her and her sister to Minneapolis from California, so strongly did he believe in her singing. After panning her performance, the panel repeatedly insinuated to Dooley that she was inappropriately involved with her boss. Then they called him in, told him his employee was “terrible” and proceeded to make the same insinuation to him – while his wife sat just outside the room.

‘A lot meaner’

Peter Liguori, Fox entertainment president, said the judges know what makes “Idol” and that this is just the continuation of a successful formula.

“Let’s face it: the show has been on the air six years, the judges have been critical for six years,” he said.

Simon Cowell, center, with fellow American

But to the contestants, the cruel factor seems to have been kicked up a notch.

“It just seems like they’re being a lot meaner,” says Jessica Rhode. After the 21-year-old makeup artist was given a thumbs-down by the panel, she collapsed to her knees and wept, begging the judges for constructive advice. “It would take an hour,” Cowell retorted. He told her to be happy: Now she could move on, knowing she’d never be a singer.

“I expected at least one of them to say something nice,” Rhode said in a telephone interview. “I was like, is this really necessary?”

The cruelest moment undoubtedly came in Seattle, where a spirited young man named Kenneth Briggs, who liked to compare himself to Justin Timberlake, was told by Cowell: “You look like one of those creatures that live in the jungle, with those massive eyes … a bush baby.” Once he left, the three judges were shown cracking up hysterically at the “bush baby” remark.

Their behavior brought a rebuke from the hosts of ABC’s “The View.” “The whole thing, it’s terribly sad to me,” said moderator Rosie O’Donnell.

Even the doors were mean. In a malfunction that seemed expressly designed to deepen the humiliation, one side of the double doors to the Minneapolis tryout room was locked or jammed. Cowell got to smirk or roll his eyes every time a poor soul – Rhode was one of them – knocked into the wrong one during a hasty exit.

Verbal pummeling

At least Stephen Horst, a 28-year-old vocal coach, managed to pick the right door after the pummeling he took from Jackson.

Horst chose to sing Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” Maybe it was the song, or the singing that veered into a sudden falsetto, or the fact that he was a vocal coach. Jackson went on a rampage.

“I thought it was awful,” he said. “I wouldn’t take vocal lessons from you, I wouldn’t tell anybody to take vocal lessons from you.”

“I was stunned,” Horst said. He’s moving ahead with his music career and doesn’t plan to watch the show anymore, he said. “I need to create a new past.”