Why Was ‘To Catch a Predator’ Canceled? Looking Back at the Show’s Shutdown

Warning: The following post contains discussions of suicide.

From 2004 to 2007, To Catch a Predator aired on NBC as part of a Dateline program. The series featured hidden cameras capturing adult men arriving at sting houses to have sex with underage minors. The minors were actually adults impersonating teenagers in online chats.

Despite its popularity, To Catch a Predator was also controversial, with critics noting that the series thrived on making news, more so than achieving justice. The show was canceled in 2008 after a major controversy that led to the death of a high-profile subject.

Now, To Catch a Predator is being exposed in the MTV Documentary Films doc Predators, now streaming on Paramount+. Scroll down for everything we know about To Catch a Predator’s cancellation.

Why was To Catch a Predator canceled?

To Catch a Predator was canceled following Bill Conradt’s death by suicide in November 2006. Although this has not been confirmed as the reason for the cancellation, many have linked the timing of Conradt’s death to the ending of the show.

The district attorney from Dallas-Forth Worth had been talking to and exchanging pictures with a decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy. He was one of more than two dozen men lured to a house in Murphy, Texas, during a sting operation for To Catch a Predator.

When he did not actually go to the house, police arrived at his home with a warrant for his arrest. Police arrived on the scene with Dateline cameras, and Conradt died by suicide within 60 minutes of shooting himself upon their arrival.

Despite the controversy, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen has insisted that the show just ended because it ran its course after three years on the air. “At the end of the day, we had proved our point,” he told Time in 2015.

What happened to Bill Conradt?

Conradt was airlifted to a hospital in Dallas, but was pronounced dead upon arrival.

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“They went over there and did that at that house because it would do something for the show, not something for society, not something in the interest of law enforcement,” Walt Weiss, a former detective for the Murphy Police Department, who participated in the Conradt sting, said in Predators. “And the role that I played in it, that’s a stain on my soul that I’m gonna live with if I’m any kind of a human being at all. I could’ve shut that thing down. At least that part of it, just simply by walking out the back door and going to see somebody.”

Conradt’s sister filed a $109 million wrongful death lawsuit against NBC, and they settled out of court, per ABC News. “The matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties,” her lawyer said.

Predators, Streaming Now, Paramount+

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or dial 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.