An appeals court in Romania has upheld last month's decision to extend Andrew Tate's detention, meaning the ex-kickboxer and misogynist will remain in custody until at least February 27.

Tate, 36, his brother Tristan, 34, and two Romanian women suspects, one a former police officer, were arrested in December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group to exploit women. All have denied these claims.

Prosecutors launched an investigation last March after one of the brothers allegedly raped a trafficked woman. They are accused of recruiting victims by luring them and pretending they wanted romantic relationships.

The victims were then allegedly taken to several properties outside Bucharest where they were forced "through physical violence, intimidation and coercion" to produce pornographic content for certain sites, generating huge profits.

The prosecution has so far identified six victims, including minors. The two Romanian women in custody, Georgiana Naghel and Alexandra Luana Radu, are suspected of acting as associates of the Tate brothers.

The former kickboxer became famous in 2016 when he was removed from the British reality show "Big Brother" because of a video of him attacking a woman. He said that women are partially responsible for rape and that they "belong" to men.

After amassing millions of followers on social media, sparking fears that his videos were radicalizing young people, Andrew Tate was eventually banned from all major platforms. In November, his Twitter account was reinstated.