SAS Australia slammed for brutal violence amid surge in lockdown domestic ...

Social media has erupted over a controversial challenge on SAS Australia.

On Monday's episode of the military-style reality show, there were bloody and brutal scenes as the recruits were pitted against one another in the boxing ring.

However, many on social media were aghast that violence was being glorified while domestic violence cases surge amid Australia's ongoing Covid lockdowns.

SAS Australia star Koby Aberton, who was so disgusted by a fight he called from the sidelines for it to be stopped, reposted one critical message to his Instagram before later deleting it.

Calling the scenes 'disgusting', the post called out the Seven show for depicting violence against women 'in a time where domestic violence is on the increase'.

'As a citizen, father, grandfather, I just hope the families of the youth that lost their lives due to king hits and street violence did not witness what I saw tonight!' it read.

Bra Boy Koby, who lamented the violence he had witnessed in his own life on Monday's episode, called for a fight between Jessica Peris, 28, and Kerri Pottharst, 56, to be stopped.

He was visibly distressed by the beating copped by the older Olympian, and added a caption to his Instagram re-post calling out the show.

'It's all in the plan,' began the surfer, cryptically. 

'You know that. Stand up,' he added, before later deleting the post altogether.

Viewers sympathised with him, with one tweeting, 'If Koby witnessed [domestic violence], the fight with Kerri would be triggering for him.'

Another added: 'Kudos to you Koby, stepped forward wanting to stop the fight, calling stop. That was hard to watch...'.

Yet another viewer called out the show for 'allowing the fights last night to continue without head protection'.

While all recruits began their fights with headgear, many fell off during the course of their fights and were not replaced.

The criticism comes amid reports of increased domestic violence in Australia since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Centre for Justice recently surveyed domestic family violence agencies and found a surge in cases between June 2020 and August 2020.