Some viewers irked when ‘Jeopardy!’ is preempted to announce Barbara Bush’s death

Viewers in the Eastern time zone watching “Jeopardy! 2018 College Championship” semifinals Tuesday had to go to Google and Twitter to find out, as the syndicated program was interrupted by CBS, ABC and NBC to report the death of former first lady Barbara Bush.

Some viewers of the quiz show were not amused.

"@CBS really interrupted Jeopardy with breaking news that Barbara Bush died? Y'all couldn't have waited 5 min when it was over?" one woman tweeted.

"Hey I know Barbara Bush was a former First Lady but you COULDN'T WAIT UNTIL THE END OF #Jeopardy NBC?!" Joe D tweeted.

"Thanks for preempting @Jeopardy there @ABC you going to show it again?" another viewer tweeted.

The category for Final Jeopardy was Russian culture, and the question was “This work was over 50 years old & excerpts had been popularized when it had its first full U.S. performance on Christmas Eve 1944.”

That was the topic confronting contestants Hannah Sage, a sophomore from at the University of Central Florida from Sarasota, Florida; Eric Thorpe, a senior at Dartmouth College from Laguna Niguel, California; and Thatcher Chonka, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The correct response was “What is the Nutcracker?”

All three contestants had the correct answer, but Sage won when she bid $10,201 to edge Chonka by $1, collecting $28,401. Chonka had $28,400, whole Thorpe was third with $20,400.

Sage will compete in Thursday’s final.

Here is the final recap of the episode: