Caught Online (TV series)

Caught Online is an American reality television series hosted by psychologist Dr. Floyd Van Aanholt. Produced by in association with  and distributed by, the series received a trial run as three "pilot specials" from October 14, 2017 to October 20, 2017 on the 's owned-and-operated stations, and premiered for full syndication in March 2018. Based off the Swedish series Trolljägarna, in each episode three people share the hatred they have received online from "trolls" and "cyberbullies", and then Dr. Van Aaholt goes out to get a hold of these anonymous online persons, ending usually in confrontations by Dr. Van Aanholt, partly filmed with hidden camera, of those persons. In many of the cases that the program addresses, the people who have been exposed to online hatred also receive help from Hoenigsberg LLP to claim damages for what they have been forced to go through.

Pilot Specials (2017)

 * 1) Pilot Special 1 - Dr. Van Aanholt helped three people - an artist from, a Snapchat user from , and a writer from  - confront their attackers. Among the cyberbullies exposed included a sous-chef from  and a UPS worker from , both of whom lost their jobs after the special was broadcast.
 * 2) Pilot Special 2 - Dr. Van Aanholt helps a restaurant chef expose a rude animal rights activist woman from  who was encouraging harassment of him and fellow chefs for practices of serving dishes such as foie gras (said activist was fired from the organizing committee of a vegfest in  after the special aired). Then, he helps a teenager from  and an activist from  confront their online harassers. The other trolls exposed included a  inspector, an elementary school teacher, and a  drive-thru worker, all of whom were fired by their employers after the broadcast.
 * 3) Pilot Special 3 - Dr. Van Aanholt exposes the harassers of a writer from, a twin artist duo from , and a Snapchat user from . The trolls exposed included an active-duty Marine Corps sniper who was later given an other-than-honorable discharge, as well as a storyboard artist for , a computer technician, and a film critic.

Season 1 (2018)

 * 1) Episode 1 - Dr. Van Aanholt exposes the harassers of an actress from, an artist from , and a civil rights activist from . One troll exposed was an aspiring comedian training with the  troupe of  who was "expelled" from the troupe after broadcast.
 * 2) Episode 2 - Dr. Van Aanholt confronted the harassers of a cosplayer from, a big game hunter from , and an activist from . The trolls exposed included a senior student at 's , a copywriter for the , and a former roadie for.
 * 3) Episode 3 - Dr. Van Aanholt helped an aspiring Christian singer-songwriter from, a cosplayer from , and an artist from  confront their online attackers and critics. Those exposed as trolls included a Uber driver, a web developer-in-training, a 25-year old computer technician from , computer systems programmer Ira Fifita (later arrested for cyberstalking, and was initially threatened with deportation to his native Tonga but was allowed to remain in the United States after an appeal to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), a post-production video editor for , a intern for Mad magazine, and a -based comedian.
 * 4) Episode 4 - Dr. Van Aanholt confronts the harassers of a Wikipedia editor from, a self-styled social media "influencer" from , and a fursuiter from . One of the trolls exposed was an  police officer, who was later fired by the.
 * 5) Episode 5 - Dr. Van Aanholt helped an "influencer" from, a fursuiter/artist from , and a gamer from  expose their online harassers. One of the trolls exposed had been previously confronted in Pilot Special 3 a year earlier. Another troll exposed was cable installer Thomas Skowronski, who was arrested for cyberstalking but died in a car accident while awaiting trial.
 * 6) Episode 6 - Dr. Van Aanholt exposed the cyberbullies harassing an aspiring ballet dancer from, an artist from  and a professional gamer from . One troll became so ill when being confronted by Dr. Van Aanholt that he passed out and crashed into a nearby wall. He was rushed to the hospital afterwards. Other trolls exposed included a  installer from  who had personally harassed the gamer from St. Joseph, an anti-climate change activist who was later arrested for attempting to burn down a gas station, a web developer who claimed that he "only sees hate", and a United States Air Force mechanic.
 * 7) Episode 7 - Dr. Van Aanholt exposed the trolls harassing a Christian blogger from, a dancer from ,  and a big game hunter from . One of the trolls exposed later lost her job at a vegan restaurant in . Another troll exposed was a 17-year old from  who's parents had Dr. Van Aanholt set up an intervention with rather than having Aanholt directly confront him.
 * 8) Episode 8 - Dr. Van Aanholt helped a furry artist from, a blogger from , and a social justice activist from  confront their online attackers. Those exposed as trolls included a software engineer who worked for , a 70-year old woman from , a former real estate agent, a 17-year old from , and a "well-respected man" from  with a Ph.D. in computer engineering. Another troll exposed, a 22-year old from , was later arrested for cyberstalking in connection with the trolling of the artist from Altoona. He was tried in the  and pleaded guilty to charges of harassment and stalking, and was given a suspended sentence of 4 years in prison. He was released on parole in January 2021.
 * 9) Episode 9 - Dr. Van Aanholt exposed the trolls and cyberbullies harassing a dancer from, a blogger from , and a pro-human rights artist from . One of the trolls exposed was a tax collector for the city of , who was later suspended indefinitely. Other trolls exposed included a elementary school teacher from , a British TV Licensing inspector, an investigative journalist, and a former  firefighter.
 * 10) Episode 10 - In this special episode, Dr. Van Aanholt helps a family from  organize a intervention with their youngest son, an alleged troll. Dr. Van Aanholt also has several of his victims confront the alleged troll.
 * 11) Episode 11 - Dr. Van Aanholt helped an artist from, an activist/artist from , and a "influencer" from  confront the trolls harassing them. Those exposed as trolls included the CEO of a supplement company in , a writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a church music director, a Taekwondo instructor, a performance artist from , and a United States Air Force mechanic. All the trolls exposed lost their jobs after broadcast. While confronting the trolls from Dayton and Cincinnati, several production crew members were temporarily deputized for the filming of the confrontations due to  state requirements for evidence in sting operations.

Controversy
The show has been criticized for using "harassment" tactics and blurring the line between "justice for those harassed" and vigilantism.

Legal issues
In August 2019, Andrew Kendrick Stefanini, an actor, comedian and humorist living at the time in who was documented on the show in May 2018 for alleged "trolling", sued NEG USA and NHNZ in the  for emotional trauma and emotional distress. Andrew stated that, despite regretting his decisions and apologizing to the trolling victims, he had been receiving death threats and hate mail, got addicted to alcohol, and had been arrested twice for drinking-and-driving. He ended up moving back to his hometown of, with his acting and writing career ruined entirely, and moved back in with his ex-girlfriend and managed the social media accounts for his father's franchise. The parties agreed to a undisclosed settlement on October 11, 2019.