To Catch An Adulterer... I'm Chris Hansen

A couple of years ago, a put up a post about Chris Hansen, the famous "gotcha" guy from Dateline: NBC's "To Catch a Predator" series, which ultimately spawned a couple of spin-offs such as "To Catch an Identity Thief", "To Catch a Con Man" and "To Catch a Jaywalker" (okay I made up the last one). The general premise of these Chris Hansen-led episodes is to set up a perpetrator and then rush in with him and a camera crew to catch the perp in the act. Then for 5-10 minutes, Hansen would smugly interview the ensnared perp on camera while the guy squirmed uncomfortably.

As I made it clear in my post from a few years back, I'm not a fan of criminals and believe that pedophiles as the scum of the earth, but I always found Chris Hansen a bit smug and self-righteous in these segments, and wondered if he'd always embrace the concept of videotaped vigilante justice if he was on the other side of the camera. I wrote in that post:

Maybe it's the reality that as grave as these crimes are, Hansen seems to believe strongly that they are worthy of national public humiliation beyond criminal persecution, with him being the face of justice. He has become the face of righteous indignity, and I wonder should he ever make a terrible mistake to do something scandalous (e.g. cheat on his wife) or commit a crime, would he still feel that his trial and shame should be held in full view of television viewers all over the world? Can Chris Hansen cast the first stone?

It's not even a hypothetical anymore, as Chris Hansen was caught on tape having a romantic dinner with a former intern named Kristyn Caddell, with some reports alleging that Hansen has been carrying on a four month affair with the now 30-year old Florida television reporter. I find no joy in "calling this" two years earlier nor do I wring my hands in glee a person who took great pleasure in publicly humiliating others who were enough trouble as it was gets a taste of his own medicine. It's a sad situation for him, his wife and his two children.

Now let's be clear - are we claiming a moral equivalency between adultery and pedophilia? Not really - but I think we can say that it takes some moral gumption to be the righteous face of judgment in a hidden camera news magazine. If you're going to take a role like that - and revel in it as Chris Hansen seemed to do - you'd better be really careful around how you live your life in the public eye.