Call it the Wilhel-meanie 'Agency'

The venerable Wilhelmina agency, founded in 1967 by internationally known model Wilhelmina Cooper has emerged as a fiscal giant in the latter day modeling industry, led by its powerhouse men’s divison. Currently headed by President Sean Patterson, the wide-ranging organization with offices in NY, LA and Miami and one of the most diverse array of divisions in the business is poised for a new level of visibility with its upcoming VH-1 reality series. By MARISA GUTHRIE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Think "American Idol" judges who disembowel aspiring singers are bad? One look at "The Agency" - VH1's upcoming reality show about Wilhelmina Models - will make you thank your lucky stars that you're so average, or frumpy, that you'll never get anywhere near this nasty business. In the opening of the show, which premieres Feb. 20 at 10 p.m., a tattooed agent who calls himself Pink shoots down one hopeful after another: "Too fat. Too old. Too short. Too big. You're barking up the wrong tree." And this: "There's nothing I can do with you. Your face is asymmetrical. Your eyes are too close together and your nose is off on an angle like this," he says, making an upward slashing motion with his hand. "You want me to keep going?" But the most sadistic agent by far is Becky Southwick, a Brit with a tongue so sharp she makes Simon Cowell look like Glinda the Good Witch of Reality Television. She dubs a young model named Chloe "Doughy Chloe." And she tells Robin, a willowy brunette who's partial to potato chips and Skittles, "You've got to lose 10 pounds! I want you to look like a bloody stick!" Her constant use of the F-word, which in the modeling world is F-A-T (she uses the other F-word a lot too, so much so that occasionally her rants are a long series of bleeps), encapsulates the criticism heaped on the industry. With New York Fashion Week starting tomorrow, the social responsibility of parading skeletal models down runways is again taking center stage. Sean Patterson, president of Wilhelmina, acknowledges that the emphasis on extreme thinness is a reality in the fashion world. "There are certain elements within this industry which encourage that," he says. And while he characterizes Southwick as a bad apple, he says people should be aware of the behind-the-scenes ugliness inherent in the beauty business. "The modeling industry is not necessarily easy," he says. "It can be an emotional and psychological drain. I think the show will be a wakeup call that A) not everyone can be a model and B) of the harshness that goes on in this business." Indeed. Eating disorders are pervasive. A Brazilian model died during Madrid's fashion week last year. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has responded with a recently released set of health recommendations that include providing healthy snacks backstage at fashion shows and educating models about eating disorders as well as tobacco-related health risks. The only people smoking in "The Agency" are the agents, but in one episode Patterson and his agents stage an intervention for a male model, Owen, whom they believe is too thin. And Patterson says they have ordered female models to gain weight. And yes, they often tell potential models, men and women, to lose weight. "But it needs to be done in a careful and caring way," he says. Not the way it is done on the show. But watching the rough cuts as the show was in production (September 2005 to June 2006) was instructive precisely because it was so revealing. "There were moments," he says, "when I sat back and I was actually shocked."