Washington, Dec 18: Even after the suicide of former American idol contestant Paula Goodspeed, judge Simon Cowell has refused to tone down his level of criticism on the show.

Although Cowell insists that Goodspeed's death has hit them "like an express train", he is adamant he would not have judged her differently when she auditioned- because it is necessary for viewers to hear his honest opinion.

"I have thought long and hard about this... I think we will continue in the way we have always done. We have tried to have a sense of humour. The show is not an inherently mean show," Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

"It is an American dream show where the whole purpose is to find somebody who through the process becomes a star.

"It is helpful showing people the process that, if you''re not very good, don''t spend years trying to do something you''re not very good at doing," he added.

Cowell said that he doesn''t believe that going easy on Goodspeed would have helped her.

"My regret is that we didn''t know how troubled this person was. If I could have gone back in time and known what she was going through, we could have then tried to help her, but we genuinely didn''t know," he said. (ANI)