To Catch a Predatour

A few years back, when I was regularly going to concerts during my college years, I signed up for the email mailing list of Milwaukee's The Rave/Eagles Ballroom and to this day I still get emails at least once a week letting me know about the upcoming shows, etc.

Anyways, about a week ago I received an email from them that enclosed this AWESOME poster for an upcoming tour called "To Catch a Predatour."

How hilarious is that?! I had a good laugh when I saw it and saved it to show hubby who had a good laugh as well!

I'm sure I've mentioned before, but the Dateline NBC series To Catch a Predator with Chris Hansen is one of our favorite shows - my college roommate and I came across it late one Saturday night while winding down from a bit of drinking and thought it was the most awesome show we had ever seen. You can imagine our delight when we learned that this was a whole Dateline series with tons of episodes!

The premise is simple - an online watchdog group called Perverted Justice has their volunteers sign into chatrooms with screennames that imply that they're teenagers (usually girls) and wait for dirty perverted guys to start private messaging them. They always tell the guys they're like 13, 14 or 15 years old but that doesn't seem to stop the guys - some of them instantly start asking if she's a virgin, if she's ever done certain sex acts... some of them even send photos of their junk! A lot of times they start talking about wanting to "teach" and "educate" the teen and so the teen, after chatting with the predator for sometime, invites them over to her "house" while her "parents are out." Some of these guys drive hours just to get there, sometimes cross-state or even crossing state borders! When the guys get to the sting house, the teenage girl decoy tends to say several feet ahead of them, never getting too close or making contact and usually tells them to hang out in the kitchen while she either goes and puts some laundry away or changes her shirt because she made a mess while making the brownies or cookies that are sitting on the kitchen table. Some of the guys willingly wait in the kitchen, continuing the conversation with her from the room, while others are too eager and start to follow her.

This is where the AWESOME Chris Hansen steps in from a side room and usually says "Hi - why don't you just have a seat over there..." and begins questioning the guy about his intentions for being there, often asking about certain items the guy has brought (alcohol, drugs, condoms, sex toys) and then starts reading off some of the things the guy has said to the presumed 13/14/15 year old in the internet chats. Some guys run off the moment they see Chris Hansen, others stick around for a bit. Many seem to think he is the girl's dad or a cop until he reveals that "I'm Chris Hansen... with Dateline NBC... and we're doing a story about men who try and meet young teens from the internet for sex." As soon as the guys leave and walk out the front door they're chased down by the cops waiting outside - there's been times where they even tasered a dude!

Guys from all ages show up - ones that are 18-early 20s to 60-70 year olds! And they're from all different backgrounds - married guys who were "just curious," several 20-something military guys back from Iraq, doctors, pastors, teachers, wealthy guys, truck drivers... one guy even brought his toddler along with him! There was one guy that was a repeat offender - he had been caught in a previous sting and showed up again... then the next day they caught him in a chatroom again and he showed up to meet the decoy outside a local McDonalds where he freaked out when he saw Chris Hansen again! They all have the same story too once they get caught "I thought she was older..." "She said she was home alone, I was just going to hang out and keep her company..." "I just wanted to meet her and explain the dangers of what we had talked about... I was NEVER going to do anything with her!" The best is when they admit they've seen the show - one guy was even like "I love the show! I love what you guys are trying do and I'd love to help out with it!"

As serious as the show is it, it is pretty amusing at times, as some of the things these guys say in the chats (and even some of their screennames) are just too outrageous... and then how they act when caught and the things they say to try and weasel out of their predicament...

Anyways, this poster above is funny because it's Chris Hansen catching a Predator (from the movies) in a kitchen typical of the ones you see on the show and the Predator has brought beer, a bong and condoms - all things predators in the show have brought at times!