Recently eliminated American Idol finalist Bucky Covington might be a polite and respectful Southern boy, but that didn't stop him from being critical of sharp-tongued Idol judge Simon Cowell during his post-elimination interview with reporters on Thursday.

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"When he gives me advice -- well it seems like he used to give advice, but now he doesn't so much give advice as just try to put you down," Covington told reporters about Cowell. "[He tries to make memorable] 'I can't believe he said that' [type comments], which make people talk the next day."

According to Covington, a country music singer like himself had little chance of pleasing the music industry executive. "Simon, a lot of times he signs boy bands and stuff like that," said Covington. "So for him to like someone like me or Taylor [Hicks] it's out of the question. No matter what we do, he's not going to like us. We're just not his thing."

Later, Covington provided a specific example of the type of Cowell comments that he found unhelpful. "Like [when] he told Paris [Bennett] [her performance was] 'weird' -- what is that supposed to mean?," Covington explained.

"That tells her nothing, you did not help her none with your comment. You should have just kept your mouth shut. I don't mean to sound rude about it, but you can help and then you can just sell a show. And he does a good job with selling the show, because he knows exactly what sells and he does it and does it well."