‘Decoy Dan’ After ‘Primetime’: Where Is He Now?
A24’s Primetime (2026) revisits the convoluted legacy of To Catch a Predator (2004) and its host, Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson). Inspired by the Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die,” the film explores the events leading up to the show’s botched sting operation involving Rockwall County district attorney Bill Conradt (Alex Winter). While it features the major players in the incident, Primetime also spotlights an unexpected figure: Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo).
Also known as “Decoy Dan,” Plum becomes the central focus of Primetime. He’s an aspiring, naïve young actor who jumps at the chance to gain experience by serving as a decoy on To Catch a Predator. By the end of the film, he’s more experienced but also deeply shaken and changed by the show. His role reminds viewers of the oft-forgotten decoys of To Catch a Predator, who were often put in unsettling situations and pressured to partake in ethically gray conduct. Plum’s role is particularly poignant because he’s based on a real-life decoy, Dan Schrack.
Who Is Decoy Dan?
Primetime’s Dan Plum is a composite character, inspired by several To Catch a Predator decoys. However, he is most influenced by Dan Schrack, the decoy involved in the Conradt sting operation. Primetime certainly dramatizes and imagines many details of Plum’s relationship with Hansen, but it gets the basics of Schrack’s story fairly accurately. Like Plum, Schrack was a young, struggling actor in 2006. At 21, his only experience was a “Toys R Us” Furbies advertisement. He began piling on auditions in California in search of his big break, which led him to audition for How to Catch a Predator.
Like Plum, Schrack was also uncertain about the details of his role. He had booked so many auditions that he didn’t properly research many of the roles. Because To Catch a Predator was part of NBC’s Dateline (2009), he assumed he would re-enact true crime scenes, a common feature of Dateline. So he was in for quite the surprise when he learned he’d be posing as a minor to lure predators to a sting house. Still, he took on the role, serving as a decoy in seven episodes between seasons 1 and 2. According to Esquire, he earned $5,000 per episode.
With rosy cheeks and a surfer haircut, he looked much younger than he was, which made him a good fit for the show. Schrack also enjoyed the show's improv challenge. However, his To Catch a Predator career ended tragically when he began chatting online with Wil, who claimed to be a 19-year-old college student. Along with the producers, Schrack discovered Wil was actually 56-year-old Conradt, a local district attorney. After failing to lure Conradt to the decoy house, To Catch a Predator producers went to Conradt’s home to confront him. Schrack was still at the decoy house when news reached him of Conradt’s suicide. To Catch a Predator was shut down, and Schrack was taken to the airport to go home, but what happened would remain with him for a long time.
Where Is Dan Schrack Now?
Schrack left acting after To Catch a Predator, but he didn’t leave the entertainment industry entirely. Today, he is an anchor for ABC’s 13WHAM News, a role he has held since 2019. According to his biography page on 13Wham.com, he began studying Public Communication in 2013. He landed his first news gig as an intern at WIVB-TV, News 4 Buffalo, before working his way up to produce and anchor the morning news in New York and Pennsylvania.
Schrack rarely advertises his time on To Catch a Predator. However, he appeared in the documentary Predators (2025), where he shared insights from his experience. He admitted that he has largely “blocked out” the Conradt incident. Before Predators, he tried to revisit one of his decoy phone calls on YouTube but had to stop immediately. He explained, “I was done. I didn't wanna play that game anymore. It's not a place I like to live."
Schrack especially dislikes the thought that he may have been the last person Conradt had a conversation with before his death. In the end, he emphasizes that no amount of experience or money was worth what happened. He stated, “You could offer me $10 million to film that episode in Texas again. I wouldn't take it. I would not take it and be happy about that decision."
