Chris Hansen Breaks Silence on Robert Pattinson Movie, New Sting Operations & A Predator’s Playbook

**Chris Hansen** (0:00)
I'm Chris Hansen, the Dayline NBC.
Do you see how this looks? The just released trailer for Primetime. You see how this looks. You see how this looks. Again, you see how this looks. You see how this looks, right? You were worried as to whether or not. You guys are filming me, I feel like I'm being violated. There was a set up. There was a set up. Well, I think the violation was going to take place if we weren't here and there was a 15 year old girl. That's suspicious as f***. It is suspicious AF, isn't it? Yes, it is. You see how this looks, right?

**Annie Elise** (0:31)
Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialously.
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all new episode of Serialously with me, your host, Annie Elise. I hope you are all having a fantastic start to your week so far, that you are, you know, whatever you're doing, whether you're on your way to work, maybe you're at work, maybe you're cleaning, maybe you're working out, who knows? But whatever you're doing, I hope you are ready for today's episode, because this is one that I personally have been looking forward to so much. I didn't even realize that this episode was going to be on my bucket list, and that this interview is on my bucket list, until I realized it, which kind of, now that I say that out loud, like makes absolutely no sense. But you may have been seeing the trailer for the upcoming movie Primetime going viral right now. It stars Robert Pattinson. He's playing Chris Hansen, who I'm sure all of you are familiar with from Back in the Day, Dateline NBC, How to Catch a Predator. He now has his show Takedown on True Blue, which he is a network he co-founded. And he's just an icon in the space, right?
His name is synonymous with catching predators. And so as I said, you probably have seen this trailer going viral because Robert Pattinson channels Chris's voice, in my opinion, incredibly well. The movie feels like a thriller, but it really takes you through the early days of how to catch a predator. What would go into these stings? What was it like for Chris Hansen? And here's the best part about today's episode, guys. We don't need to wonder. We don't need to see the movie to understand what went into these stings, how the stings are still operating today, because today I am joined by the one, the only, the child advocate of the century, Chris Hansen. And he is sharing directly with us not only things about the movie, but also what goes into stings, what he's working on now, how parents who are listening can really be educated on the dangers of Roblox, of how predators have evolved over the years from chat rooms on AOL, now to video games, and to text messaging, and Instagram, and all of the apps. And we're going to talk all things predators today. So please join me in welcoming Chris Hansen. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome to Serialously, Chris Hansen. Well, thank you, Annie. It's a pleasure to be here. Well, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for inviting me. There is so much that I want to talk to you about.
Okay, so I want to talk about the new movie because obviously Robert Pattinson is going to be starring as you in an upcoming movie called Prime Time. How does that feel?

**Chris Hansen** (3:26)
Well, I tell you what, I've been so busy being the real Chris Hansen. I haven't had much time to check out the dramatized version, but I'm going to see it soon. Once I do, we'll talk about it.

**Annie Elise** (3:39)
Okay, great. I have a lot of questions about the movie, so we'll get there. I would love to start back. Let's rewind a little bit to the Dateline days, the How to Catch a Predator days, and what goes on inside a Sting.

**Chris Hansen** (3:51)
Well, inside a Sting, there's a lot going on. In the very beginning, in 2004, when we started this, we merely partnered with an online watchdog group called Perverted Justice. So it was their chatters.
That group at the time would find these guys and post their identities on their website. I figured if we could combine their ability to be decoys and our ability to wire a house, it could be compelling. So we set up a house in Long Island, Bethpage. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but in two and a half days, 17 guys showed up, including a New York City firefighter.