“My Name Is Chris Hansen” and I’m a Cheater Caught on Tape?
My name is Chris Hansen. I'm with Dateline NBC. Why don't you have a seat right there.
That's what dozens of online sexual predators were greeted with between 2004 and 2007 as a part of the sting set up by NBC show To Catch a Predator. Chris Hansen hosted the show and made his career doing it.
The show lured sexual predators with decoy online accounts of underage teenagers, got them to come to a suburban house, and then sicced Hansen on them.
Hansen would first ask why they're there. When the predators would try to deny their guilt, Hansen would bust out the illicit online chat logs that the predators had with the decoy accounts. He usually reads out loud one or two of their most damning lines.
After the predators have suffered enough humiliation, Hansen tells them to walk out the door. Then, they're usually swarmed by half a dozen police officers and arrested on the spot.
Hansen and the To Catch a Predator show have caught a police cadet, a rabbi, a prominent doctor, and even a disabled man with cerebral palsy.
The show did raise awareness about online sexual predators. However, a big part of its popularity was seeing the humiliated predators in the face of overwhelming evidence. One predator was so shocked that he fainted on the spot (video below).
Now, the tables may have been turned on Hansen (Hansen hasn't confirmed anything himself).
The National Enquirer claims that Hansen is having an affair with Kristyn Caddell, a Florida news anchor. The paper produced a video purportedly of Hansen meeting Caddell at the Ritz-Carlton's Angle restaurant in Palm Beach for a romantic dinner.
The Enquirer said its print edition on sale currently features more photos of the couple. IBTimes cannot independently confirm this story. While the Enquirer has a history of breaking true stories like John Edwards' affair, it also publishes untrue stories, like the false report that OJ Simpson was set to confess his murder to Oprah Winfrey on live TV.
Meanwhile, below are several clips from Hansen's To Catch a Predator show.
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