A Swanky Replacement: Brooke Shields?

For the second time in three months, the Brinker International Forum has had to swap out celebrity guests — once again because of a “scheduling conflict.” (Do these people not have calendars? Or assistants with calendars?) After already getting a two-for-one deal in September, when Carl Reiner and Martin Short replaced John Travolta, the Brinker International Forum sends word this morning that two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank can’t make Tuesday’s showdown with Gary Cogill at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, even though it’s been on the schedule since February. So instead, it’s dipping its fishing pole into The Blue Lagoon and reeling in Brooke Shields.

How’d the Brinker stick on Shields? Because she is “an iconic figure in American culture, both as a supermodel and an actress,” according to former Dallas Morning News president Jeremy Halbreich, currently chair of the Brinker International Forum Board of Advisors. Well, sure — and she’s currently out of work, thus finding herself with a little extra free time to spend chatting it up with Cogill Tuesday at 8 p.m. Still, if nothing else Shields is a terrific speaker on the subject of the “survival of the fittest,” as evidenced in the clip after the jump. –Robert Wilonsky