I liked it when they were being interrogated by Hansen and yet “needed to pee since Nashville.” The 25-year-old rockers and military staff sergeants, I sure did not. Irrationally, I always felt bad for the slightly handicapped men, or the ones who were mentally ill. The men who drove for hours only to be busted by Hansen and Dateline NBC only made the episode that much more of a victory. Sometimes, the perp just brought his own little surprise too. (Stuffed animals, guy? Way to let viewers know, that you have the child’s interest at heart.) Others would bring McDonald’s Happy Meals, special condoms for “her pleasure” and candy. The gifts were often requests from the decoy and were used to show intent. Some men would even make trips of up to 8 hours or more, showing up with plastic grocery bags of whip cream, berries, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and stuffed animals. More astounding than the juvenile and often embarrassing sexual transcripts between the perp and what he thought was a willing and ready 12-year-old, was the men who would drive across state lines to meet up with their sexual interest.
Dateline to catch a predator full#
Dateline NBC was using a technicality to their full advantage. It turns out no such releases are needed to be signed by the subjects because this was not a reality show like COPS or Honey Boo Boo, but officially a news report, and news reports do not require talent releases. I always wondered why these busted perps would sign release forms to allow their sorry mugs to be down on television. My personal favourite was when Hansen would come around the corner with his stack of paper transcripts and ask the man, “No hug for me?” A predator was caught, no child was ever harmed, and the only person who walked out slightly scathed was the decoy, that is if the perp tried to give her a hug. However, when Hansen would walk into the room and shock the predator while throwing in one of his zippy opening lines, you couldn’t help but laugh. Pedophiles and molesters all deserve to be jailed, tossed away, all of that. The show is not supposed to be funny at all. Of course, police were always waiting outside to arrest the man upon exit. After a primetime hour of questioning, the perps would be able to leave. Others, like the legendary perp who was caught twice in one week, were clueless. The cameras were hidden, so only some men knew exactly what was happening once they recognized Hansen’s handsome face.
Using decoys (full grown adults who have really tiny bodies and voices), Dateline would monitor online chats between the predator and his illegal, then when he finally made the big stride to go meet the child in person, Hansen would be waiting there at the house to read the transcripts of the illegal conversation – “‘I want to BLANK your BLANK while your little BLANKS bounce around,’ did you write this to a 14-year-old, sir?” – while the busted fool crumbled in fear thinking Hansen was his love interest’s father.
Hosted by Chris Hansen, To Catch A Predator worked to bust men for arranging sex with underage boys and girls in online chatrooms. If you are still in college right now, you probably won’t remember this legendary show. Sometimes I really miss Dateline NBC’s To Catch A Predator.
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