“To Catch a Predator” reporter CHRIS HANSEN lost a shot at the coveted anchor chair for NBC’s “Dateline” in the wake of a cheating and sexting scandal reported exclusively by The ENQUIRER.
According to an insider, Hansen was slated to take over anchor duties for Ann Curry in August.
“But for now, plans to promote Chris to the ‘Dateline’ lead anchor spot have been placed on hold,” the insider said.“To put it bluntly, Hansen is a married man with kids who’s embroiled in a sleazy sex scandal – and that rubs against the grain of the family values image NBC is looking to project from its on-air talent.”
In an official statement, a spokesperson for “NBC News” told The ENQUIRER: “Ann Curry is the anchor of ‘Dateline.’ Chris Hansen will continue to anchor when ‘Hansen Files’ and his other stories air.”
But the insider noted: “In any case, this episode is surely not likely going to help his star rise at the network.”
In our July 11 issue, The ENQUIRER revealed how Hansen, a 51-year-old father of two, had been cheating on his wife for nearly four months with Kristyn Caddell, a news reporter at NBC affiliate WPTV in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Then, in a blockbuster follow-up report, we revealed that only days after his first sex romp with Caddell, 30, the vet broadcaster sent her at least two explicit images from his cell phone.
Hansen is now taking heat from Caddell’s father, who found out about the shocking affair when he read our exclusive report.
“He has no business seeing Kristyn – it’s just not right,” Claudio Hentschel, 67, of New Port Richey, Fla., told The ENQUIRER.
“He’s a married man with two children. And he’s old enough to be her father!”
Sources tell The ENQUIRER that Hansen seduced divorcee Kristyn at a “vulnerable point in her life” – just months after the end of her short nightmare marriage to Mike Caddell, a man with a criminal record involving drugs, robbery and violence.
The two met when they both worked for a TV station in Waco, Texas, and got hitched in 2008.
But by 2010, sources say the marriage was in shambles, and Kristyn dumped Mike after she got her job with WPTV in Florida.
Their divorce was finalized in March – but Hansen’s marriage continues to sputter along as wife Mary seems determined to stand by her man.
