For millions of Americans in the mid-2000s, Chris Hansen was a familiar face on television. His show To Catch a Predator became a huge hit on NBC’s Dateline. The setup was simple but shocking. Volunteers from a group called Perverted-Justice would go into online chat rooms pretending to be teenagers. When adult men showed up at a hidden camera house expecting to meet a minor, Hansen would walk out from the shadows with a notebook and ask his famous question: “Why are you here?”
The show ran from 2004 to 2007 and pulled in big ratings. But then it suddenly disappeared. While Hansen has said the show simply “ran its course,” the real story behind the cancellation is much darker and involves a death, a massive lawsuit, and a scandal that NBC could not ignore.
The Texas Sting That Changed Everything
The trouble started in Murphy, Texas, in November 2006. Police and the Dateline crew set up another sting house. Over several days, they caught more than two dozen men. But one suspect never showed up at the house. His name was Bill Conradt, and he worked as an assistant district attorney in nearby Rockwall County.
Investigators said Conradt had been exchanging messages and pictures with a decoy who pretended to be a 13-year-old boy. Because he did not come to the sting house, police decided to go to his home with a search warrant. The problem was that the NBC camera crew came along.
The Death of Bill Conradt and Its Aftermath
When police and the Dateline team arrived at Conradt’s house, the situation turned deadly. Conradt shot himself as officers and cameras entered his home. The crew even recorded the sound of the gunshot. He was taken to a hospital in Dallas but died from his injuries.
This was not just a tragedy. It was a public relations nightmare for NBC. Critics immediately asked why television cameras were present during a police raid at a private home. Former police officers who worked on the sting later spoke out. Walt Weiss, a former detective for the Murphy Police Department, said he still carries guilt about what happened. “They went over there and did that at that house because it would do something for the show, not something for society,” he said.
The Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against NBC
Things got even worse for the network when Conradt’s family fought back. His sister, Patricia Conradt, filed a $105 million wrongful death lawsuit against NBC. The lawsuit claimed that NBC pushed police to make a dramatic arrest just for better TV footage. It also said the presence of cameras made the situation much more dangerous.
A federal judge allowed parts of the lawsuit to move forward. The judge wrote that a jury could find that NBC crossed the line from responsible journalism to reckless intrusion into police work. In 2008, NBC decided to settle the case out of court for an undisclosed amount of money.
Did the Show Get Canceled Because of Conradt?
Chris Hansen has always given a simple answer about why the show ended. In a 2015 interview with Time magazine, he said, “At the end of the day, we had proved our point.” He has described the ending as the show simply running its natural course.
But others who worked on the show disagree. Time magazine also reported that advertisers were getting uncomfortable by 2007. Big brands did not want to be linked to a show that had caused someone’s death and was facing a massive lawsuit. A former NBC executive told Time that the idea had been “beaten into the ground.” The combination of a public suicide, a lawsuit, and nervous sponsors made it too risky for NBC to continue.
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Chris Hansen’s Return with ‘Takedown’
Even though To Catch a Predator ended, Chris Hansen did not stay away from this type of work for long. In 2022, he started a new show called Takedown with Chris Hansen. The new show works with local police departments across the country. It follows a similar format but now airs on a streaming network called TruBlu.
The new show has already made headlines. In May 2026, a Washington D.C. police lieutenant named Matthew Mahl was arrested following a sting for Takedown. Police said Mahl exchanged explicit messages with someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy. Hansen called it “one of the most disturbing, upsetting and dangerous busts in any sting ever.” The officer is now on administrative leave and faces felony charges.
Hollywood’s Take on the Controversy
The story of Chris Hansen and To Catch a Predator has also caught Hollywood’s attention. A new movie called Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, recently released its first trailer. The film, backed by A24, looks at how the show started, why it became so popular, and the moral questions it raised. The trailer shows Pattinson repeating Hansen’s famous lines: “I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC, and you’re about to be a part of television history.” The movie is expected to come out in theaters this year.
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