SBS reality show Go Back To Where You Came From has been labelled “insane” and “bizarre” by international media after it sent its Aussie contestants to Syria’s dangerous frontline.

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The three-part series, which premieres Tuesday night at 8.30pm, sends six Australians with strong views overseas to challenge their perceptions of refugees, asylum seekers and Australia’s tough border protection policy.

A video posted on YouTube last month shows three of the terrified contestants wearing bulletproof vests and ducking and running from nearby gunfire.

American website The Daily Beast criticised the show for taking such a dangerous risk.

“No one wins with the show’s latest stunt, a foolhardy trip into Syria, where most foreign journalists no longer dare to work and humanitarian groups struggle to provide citizens with food and medicine,” an article on the site read.

“As good as the show’s intentions may be, though, one has to question their judgment in dropping Australians into Syria’s hell just to get some action shots.”

Meanwhile, UK outlet Metro called the show “bizarre”, adding: “We know that reality shows can sometimes push their contestants to the limit – but this Australian effort has taken things to extremes.”

“They pulled off one of the maddest programmes yet,” UK social news site Unilad wrote of the SBS.

One of the show’s contestants, Stop the Boats campaigner Kim Vuga, said the trio were only 800m from the front line.

“At one stage we were 800m from the front line and definitely getting shot at,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“Probably the worst part was going as close as we could and knowing that their bullets could reach us. We were told to listen for any whistling sounds coming through the air and that would mean a mortar had been fired. We were told we had 30 seconds to run 100 metres.”