'AMERICAN Idol's' snarky judge Simon Cowell says he's not bored by the talent show anymore - but he was earlier this year.
"It's a reality show," he told The Post during a visit last week to the South Bronx, where he was taping for this week's "Idol Gives Back." "If you're bored, you're bored. If you're not, you're not. I can't help it if I'm bored. Sometimes it's mind-numbingly boring, and it shows on my face."
Cowell says that the worst time of the season, for him at least, is during the audition process.
"It's a long run during auditions," he says. "That's the time that you're most miserable."
The contestants appear to be "trying harder" in recent weeks, and that's why he seems more engaged than he did earlier in the season, he says.
Last Friday, Cowell toured two mobile medical units operated by the Children's Health Fund as they were seeing neighborhood kids and visited the apartment of a single mom with Lupus.
Her two children and her mother - all live in the same apartment - also have chronic health issues, and they are regular patients at the mobile units.
The health fund is one of the domestic charities selected to benefit from money raised during Wednesday's special edition of "Idol."
Last year, the show raised over $70 million for projects in Africa and the US. -source
