DETROIT, MI – You know him from NBC’s popular “To Catch a Predator” series on “Dateline NBC,” and now Metro Detroit native Chris Hansen is taking it to another level.
Hansen will host 8 p.m. Friday a new show called “Wild, #WildWeb” that takes a look at the secret – and often seedy – world of online classified ads
A description of the show, courtesy of an NBC press release:
As “Dateline” hidden cameras roll, Hansen confronts several individuals who seem to be trying to make money off of complete strangers.
NBC reporter Chris Hansen, a Metro Detroit native, has been doing stories for the network for nearly two decades. Associated Press DETROIT, MI – You know him from NBC’s popular “To Catch a Predator” series on “Dateline NBC,” and now Metro Detroit native Chris Hansen is taking it to another level.
Hansen will host 8 p.m. Friday a new show called “Wild, #WildWeb” that takes a look at the secret – and often seedy – world of online classified ads
A description of the show, courtesy of an NBC press release:
As “Dateline” hidden cameras roll, Hansen confronts several individuals who seem to be trying to make money off of complete strangers.
An excerpt from my phone interview Thursday with Hansen can be found below. He grew up in Birmingham and studied journalism at Michigan State.
Check out more about Hansen, including his thoughts about news events in Detroit, in a lengthy interview I’ll post next week.
Describe what “Wild, #WildWeb” is all about and how similar or different it is from “To Catch a Predator.” Is it a new twist to what you’ve done before?
“The son of my lawyer put it best: it’s Predator 2.0. It’s the next step. It’s not just about what’s on Criaglist, or what’s on Backpage, or any other website. It says more about our society because everybody doesn’t converse this way. But when you dig into these places, you find some bizarre things. We found real life vampires who say they’re looking for blood – I swear to God. I interviewed three people and we set up these hidden camera scenarios. They first meet with one of our producers, then I step in. I mean these people are dead serious! If you believe what they say – and I have no reason no to – there are thousands and thousands of people who are involved in real life vampire activity, consuming human blood. To see this stuff unfold is incredible. And I think what’s most fascinating for the viewer in this situation is they experience this as we do in real time. So when I go up with my crew to upstate New York and we meet with a vampire, you know, I got to be on my toes.
“The crew has to be on its toes because we don’t know how it’s going to unravel. Obviously some of these situations we have security; we catch up with a guy who proclaimed to be a hit man in Tuscon, Arizona, and he instructed us to meet him at a casino at midnight. And the first question out of his mouth to our producer, posing has someone who wanted to get rid of a nasty colleague is ‘Are you with the FBI?’ Really, it’s almost creepy. He puts his hand down her back, rubs her back to see if she’s wearing a wire. In a situation like that, is he trying to take advantage of a woman and get some money? Is he really a hit man? It’s hard to know but you have to be prepared to walk into that situation.”
Hansen’s video preview of “Wild, #WildWeb” can be found below:
Detroit radio personalities Drew Lane and Mike Clark could ended up at another station after their more than 20-year career ended Friday on 101 WRIF-FM. 101 WRIF 
