Where is To Catch a Predator’s Chris Hansen Now? Why He Slammed Primetime’s “Identity Theft” | Oxygen

Where is To Catch a Predator’s Chris Hansen Now? Why He Slammed Primetime’s “Identity Theft”

Chris Hansen has been critical of the Robert Pattinson’s Primetime calling it a “complete work of fiction,” although he has admittedly not seen the film.

To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen is having a seat—and unleashing his thoughts on Robert Pattinson’s latest film Primetime.

The film, released Sept. 25, is a dramatized take on the NBC hit which saw Hansen confront alleged child predators in controversial sting operations, setting up men who believed they were meeting an underage boy or girl.

Instead, the targets would come face-to-face with Hansen and his television crew inside the suburban homes before police swooped in to make the arrest.

But the series, which ran from 2004 to 2007, drew criticism in November 2006 when one confrontation turned deadly. As police arrived to arrest Texas prosecutor Bill Conradt—with the television crew waiting outside his home—Conradt shot himself in the head.

The film is centered on Hansen’s quest to “make television history,” as its tagline touts—but Hansen himself has some thoughts on the fictionalized take. He argued to USA Today that, though he hasn’t seen it, he believes the movie doesn’t “represent what the investigative series was then or continues to be today.”

Here’s everything to know about the controversial series, Hansen’s criticisms of the film and what the journalist is up to today:

What Was To Catch a Predator?

To Catch a Predator, an offshoot of NBC’s Dateline, teamed with local law enforcement departments and the online watchdog group Perverted Justice to set up the stings. The show hired decoys to pose as underage minors to convince their targets in online chats to meet up with them for sex, Vanity Fair reported.

After the alleged predators unwittingly walked into a home fitted with cameras to meet the decoy, Hansen emerged from the shadows to confront the men, often telling them to “have a seat.”

The series was a ratings hit—averaging just over 7 million viewers, according to Forbes—as it sought to get child predators off the streets.

“I think we raised awareness and created a dialogue that didn’t exist before,” he told Time in 2015. “We created compelling television, and I think we exposed a lot of bad people who were preying on children.”

But the series has also drawn criticism.

“This was a film set that you walk onto and it ends your life as you know it,” David Osit, director of Predators, a documentary exploring the legacy of the show, told Vanity Fair. “The actual television episodes are edited as a comedy, even though some of the material—like with a lot of reality television—is quite tragic and horrifying.”

What Happened to Bill Conradt During the To Catch a Predator Investigation?

That was the case on Nov. 5, 2006, when Conradt, an assistant district attorney for Rockwall County, died by suicide.

Conradt had allegedly been communicating with a decoy pretending to be a 13-year-old boy, giving authorities enough evidence to secure an arrest warrant on charges of soliciting sex over the internet, according to reporting from NBC News and The New York Times.

Though Conradt never went to the sting operation to meet up with the boy, Sgt. Snow Robertson alleged that he had intended to do so, per The New York Times.

Instead, police went to Conradt’s Terrell, Texas home—with the Dateline crew in tow—to arrest Conradt. When he refused to open the door, police heard a gunshot and forced their way inside, as the Dateline crew waited outside. Conradt was later pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, the outlet reported.

NBC News spokesperson Allison Gollust told The New York Times that while crews were there to film the arrest, no one from Dateline had ever made contact with Conradt before the shooting: “There’s absolutely no evidence that would suggest that he was aware of us.”

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Still, his sister Patricia Conradt—who told the city council that police had acted as “a judge, jury and executioner that was encouraged by an out-of control reality show”—later sued NBC for $105 million.

Her attorney Bruce Baron told ABC News the lawsuit was later settled for an undisclosed amount. adding “the matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”

Though 24 other arrests were made in connection with the sting—featured on To Catch a Predator in February 2007—the district attorney later opted not to prosecute any of the men, according to The Associated Press.

When Did To Catch a Predator End?

The series ended in December 2007. While some pointed to Conradt’s death as the impetus behind the cancelation, Hansen has disputed that contention, telling Time the series just hit the end of its run.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “we had proved our point.”

How Does Chris Hansen Feel About Primetime?

The series is once again being thrust into the spotlight in Primetime, in which Pattinson plays a dramatized version of Hansen intent on driving up ratings.

Hansen is not a part of the production and has yet to see the movie directed by Lance Oppenheim. He walked out of a screening in August at the A24 office after being asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

However, he told USA Today he does plan to see the movie in the theater alongside a camera crew so that he can capture audience reactions for his podcast, Have A Seat with Chris Hansen.

The journalist has publicly taken issue with the fact that the film uses his name and likeness, even though it has been fictionalized, calling it “a little exploitative” and akin to “identity theft.”

“It crosses the line when they use your name, image and likeness,” he told USA Today. “I have no problem with Robert Pattinson; he's a very talented actor and he does a great job. He's been very kind in his words toward me and I have been back toward him. It's not his fault. He was hired to do a job and to pretend to be me.”

He added to The Hollywood Reporter, that he believed it to be a “complete work of fiction.”

“Based upon what I’ve seen in the trailer and my understanding of what has been written about the film, they wanted to create something much darker and way more dramatic,” he said. “I think it’s an insult to the thousands of men and women who work hard every day to protect children from predators. They turn something that is very positive, very challenging and not without risk into what is essentially a horror film.”

He added that To Catch a Predator was always “painstakingly transparent” about its methodology and refuted any claims that he was a power-hungry journalist.

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Hansen hasn’t ruled out legal action.

“I'm not looking to create a prolonged legal battle. It’s a full-time job being Chris Hansen,” he told USA Today. “Lawyers who are more schooled in these issues than I am are watching it. I guess you can't rule it out, but that's really not where my head's at.”

He did admit, however, that the movie could bring about some good by highlighting the work the series did over the years. He’s chosen to advertise his documentaries and projects with the streaming network TruBlu before the movie.

What is Chris Hansen Doing Now?

Nearly two decades after To Catch a Predator’s run, Hansen—a 10-time Emmy winner— remains in the true crime space and continues his work to bring down predators through his series Takedown on his streaming network TruBlu.

Hansen also has several documentaries in the works, including I’m Chris Hansen, and hosts the podcast Have a Seat With Chris Hansen.

He remains proud of his work and the legacy he’s left behind.

“Critics can say what they want, but I'm very comfortable with my work in the ‘Predator’ realm,” he told USA Today. “It's a public forum. People are allowed to weigh in and say what they think.”